Diabetic Holidays Suggestions

Hi all,

This past summer my grandfather was diagnosed with both diabetes and non hodgkin's lymphoma. We live on opposite ends of the country, so the Christmas holidays are the only time we get to spend with each other. Food and home baked desserts have always been a large component of the holidays for us, specifically a shortbread cookie recipe that has been passed down from my grandfather's mother to my aunt, and now me. I've been making these cookies for years, from the days I was three feet tall with flour from head to toe up until last Christmas.... when everything was normal.

In all honesty, the recipe is pretty poor and the cookies aren't really very palatable at all (mostly just butter, icing sugar and sugar.....), but I can't bare the thought of spending the holidays with my grandfather and not having them around. That being said, I want him to be able to eat at least one with me. Does anyone have any educated advise about how I could go about safely modifying a recipe? I also don't want to risk making him feel ill or worse in any way, so I'm going to do quite a bit of research but just thought I might be able to get some feedback from you fine folks.

Not to side track, but in times like these I feel so vain for channeling so much effort and time into things like calorie counting out of vanity (even though I so it for my health more than anything!). Sidebar! Sorry.

What sort of modifications are you trying to make? If it is just the sugar, Splenda makes a product that you can bake with. If he is also avoiding white flour, you should be able to safely replace about 1/3 of the flour with whole wheat without having to refigure cooking times or anything.

The big thing to watch out for when modifying desserts for diabetics is the sugar free chocolate - too much can cause...ummm..."the runs"

Like ^ says, it depends on what his dietary restrictions are. If he's in pretty good control of his diabetes and good about knowing what the restrictions are, ask him. If he's not good about managing things, ask his doctor.

As for modifying the recipe, the Splenda baking substitute can certainly be subbed in cup for cup for the granulated sugar, but I'm not sure about the icing sugar (that's powdered sugar, right?). I'll bet there are suggestions online, though. As for the flour - if he has to avoid all white flour, I'm not sure there's much you can do. You can use wheat flour, but it will have a much stronger taste and will affect texture. You could also use various bean flours (soy, chickpea and lentil come to mind), but they will also react quite differently in terms of taste, texture and probably baking time.

If all you want to do is have a cookie with him, you might find out (again, from either him or his doctor, depending on how involved he is on managing the diet aspect) if he can make allowances in either his diet or his insulin to allow him one cookie. Or you might try being direct with him and ask him whether he likes them. You mentioned that you don't particularly like them - maybe he doesn't either. Maybe you could make the cookies to satisfy tradition, then split something more diabetic-friendly with him that you'd both enjoy. Family traditions are important, but I suspect the fact that his grandchild bakes something just for him and then sits with him to consume it will mean more.

Good luck!

Is he Type I or Type II Diabetic? It may be easier for him to make allowances depending on what type of medication he takes. 

I agree with kriklaf. Talk to him about the situation first and find out what works for him.