A SWEET SURPRISE
It would seem somewhat unlucky that Jaclyn Koludrovic, dessert queen and former head pastry chef at Bondi’s Icebergs Dining Room and Bar, would end up with two gluten- and dairy-intolerant children. “Our son, Stan, was the first,” she says. “He’s been dairy-intolerant since birth, so I really struggled with breastfeeding. We had to put him on formula.
“Then, when he was about two or three years old, he started being sick and I couldn’t work out what it was. We went to a kinesiologist and she said it was both dairy and gluten, and to try and keep him away from it.” Daughter Blinky, a year younger, followed suit.
Despite the diagnosis, the now Los Angeles-based chef has seamlessly navigated around the issue; Koludrovic uses easily accessible substitutes for ingredients such as flour and butter, along with seasonal fruit and innovative flavour combinations, to take her desserts to the next level. “My inspiration comes from looking at something that’s not gluten- or dairy-free and thinking, ‘how can I change that to become what I want’,” she says. “The products that you can get now are so good that you can pretty much swap things one for one and you have no issues with them.”
Koludrovic, who normally spends Christmas with her children and husband Monty on Lord Howe Island, shares six festive dessert recipes with us this month. Each is either gluten- or dairy-free (several are both), and all give a nostalgic nod to childhood treats and definitive Christmas flavours.
Raspberry, vanilla and chocolate lamingtons
MAKES 15 // PREP TIME 40 MINS // COOK 20 MINS (PLUS CHILLING)
“I make this for the kids all the time,” says Jaclyn Koludrovic. “The lime
