Cookies!

[ladymorgaine]

Quick baking question

Comments

[tisiphone]

That is actually a good point, artificial almond flavoring is made with no reference to almonds or other nuts at all, so depending on how allergic the OP is this could be an option. I'm not sure I'd risk it though.

[ladymorgaine]

As I said in another comment, it never occurred to either myself or my sister that it might not contain nuts. I'm not sure I'll risk it either... which is kind of silly, but who knows what my brain will do. If I didn't know, I'd probably be fine, but a psychosomatic reaction wouldn't surprise me at all. :/ stoopid brain.

[tisiphone]

I'm allergic to shrimp and crab, and tend to steer far, far away from anything that might be something like it (including those fake crab stick things) because the consequences of being wrong are severe. So I totally get that!

[tisiphone]

I would suggest using vanilla extract or orange extract instead of almond extract. For the second question, it doesn't go bad exactly (it's alcohol-based) but it can lose a lot of potency. I would suggest giving it a sniff and see how much it still smells. If it's a lot it's probably fine, but if it smells faded I'd replace it.

[ladymorgaine]

Thanks! It smells fine, but the label was from a grocery store that went out of business a couple years ago, so no telling how old it is. We'll probably replace it after this year, but no point throwing it out if it is still good.

[ladymorgaine]

We have orange extract too, that might be a fun flavor alternative.

[tisiphone]

Orange extract and kirsch or cherry extract smell and taste a lot like almond, I'll use them if I don't have orange around or for something slightly different.

[back_track]

I am also allergic to almonds and other tree nuts and I use vanilla extract mostly. My friends say you can taste a difference but they taste good so whatever!

[ladymorgaine]

Since I don't really even know what almonds taste like, I'm sure *I* wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Thanks for the confirmation.

[back_track]

yeah I mean, maybe almondless cookies are inferior but what the hell do I know?

my friends are always like 'omg pecan pie how can you live without that?' but I have no idea what it tastes like so whatever.

[tisiphone]

You can totally make pecan pie without the pecans and it is just as nom. My mother makes it for my sister, who doesn't really like pecans but likes the filling.

[coendou]

Vanilla should be fine. Vanilla extract makes everything better! ;) I'm sure it will be a slightly different flavor, but not a bad one.

[ladymorgaine]

Thanks! I agree, vanilla extract is wonderful stuff.

[dolcedaze]

I have an almond allergy and use imitation almond extract.

[ladymorgaine]

You know, it never occurred to me that it might not have almonds in it. Doh. But at 40 years old I've avoiding things that say "almond" all my life. Thanks!