Candy for Special Diets
Halloween is always fun, but it can be a little challenging for children with allergies. You’ll be glad to know that there are some regular candies that happen to be allergy-free.
But first let me tell you a cautionary Halloween tale. Go Max Go is one of my favorite vegan companies. If you are dealing with an egg or milk allergy this is the candy for you. Jokerz is like a Snickers bar and just as thick, gooey and rich. They do use nuts and are not made in a gluten-free facility so it doesn’t take care of all special diets, but they do have many redos of the candy bars we grew up with and that’s pretty awesome.
They aren’t cheap at $3 each and can be a bit hard to find. This week is “Cook with Candy Week” here at Key Ingredient. I wrestled with spending $3 to just chop it up and add into cookies or brownies, but I finally gave in.
I added them into a cookie recipe – a normal cookie recipe with fat and all. My chopped candy cookies smelled really good while they were baking, but as soon as I took them out of the oven I could tell that my Jokerz cookies were just not right.
The vegan caramel in Jokerz had spread out and looked more like window pane cookies. You know, the ones that you melt hard candy into. Really, each piece of the candy bar melded into these break-your-teeth crunchy spots.
I’m not sure if it’s the rice milk or what but I assure you I will never try to bake with them again. I still think you should try some, but eat it the way Max intended – all by itself. I’ll be eating one today while I start to face the fact that I’m not a baking with candy kind of gal.
In addition to my cookie Halloween horror story I thought I’d give you some info on some candies that are accidentally allergy-free and just may find their way into your kid’s trick or treat bag tonight. Not all vegan candy is expensive; in fact you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how many “normal” candies are dairy- and egg-free.
You can find a long list of gluten-free candies at Celiac.com and at CeliacFamily.com. They are super specific and some even list what else is made in the same factory if it could pose an issue. Celiac.com makes a new list every year so their information is up to date.
The list below is of candy that is free of all animal products including dairy, eggs, honey and gelatin.
- Airheads taffy
- Blow Pops
- Brach’s Hi-C Fruit or Orange Slices
- Charms lollipops
- Chick-o-Sticks
- Cry Babies
- Dem Bones
- Dots
- Dum-Dums
- Fireballs
- Goldbergs Peanut Chews
- Hot Tamales
- Hubba Bubba bubblegum
- Jolly Ranchers
- Jujubees
- Jujyfruits
- Lemonheads
- Mary Janes
- Mike and Ike
- Pez
- Ring Pop lollipops
- Runts
- Smarties
- Sour Patch Kids
- Starburst
- Super Bubble
- Sweedish Fish
- Sweet Tarts
- Tropical Source
- Twizzlers
- Zotz
