There are few things in life a big slice of cake can’t cure.

But for Stacey Hohertz, cake, cookies and anything with gluten – is the enemy.

Like up to one percent of the United States population, Hohertz has celiac disease – an autoimmune disorder that causes a person’s body to essentially attack itself.

Hoping to give others like her – and anyone on a special diet – a taste of the sweet life, she started Gluten-Free Goodys.

In her kitchen – where she only cooks gluten free – Hohertz creates culinary sensations that rival any glutinous product.

Getting gluten-free goodies was not always so easy, the baker says.

“I was diagnosed when I was 15. I had been sick for months,” she said.

The then-teen had lost 50 pounds and was lethargic and listless to the point that she could no longer attend school.

Her parents took her to Cook’s Children’s Hospital in Dallas where, after three months of testing, she was diagnosed with celiac.

Hohertz said neither she nor her parents had even heard of the disease. Her father has a wheat allergy and diabetes runs in the family, but no other relatives before her had celiac.

“They basically handed us an information pamphlet and a book with a few recipes and that was it,” she said.

Awareness of celiac at the time, about 20 years ago, was sparse and finding gluten substitutions was even more difficult.

Hohertz said she and her family got much of their information online about what celiac was and what she could, and could not eat.

After eating gluten-free for several months, she said she finally began feeling healthy again.

Hohertz said they got most of their gluten-free products at Sunshine Natural Foods Store, but substitutions at the time were often grainy, dense or downright “awful.”

“I wanted actual food. I was diagnosed around Thanksgiving and between then and Christmas I couldn’t have all of those lovely desserts that were around,” Hohertz said.

As she learned to cook, Hohertz said she was determined to eat real food and not let her disease slow her down.

About five years later, she decided to start an online business and website offering information celiac and a few treats like cookies and granola.

Some people with celiac would eat things with gluten, she said, knowing they would get sick, but not wanting to feel different.

For a person with the disease, recovering from exposure to gluten can take months.

Hohertz said she has been affected numerous times while out to eat or even cross contamination in her kitchen, before she switched to solely gluten-free cooking.

In 2014, Hohertz life changed completely.

In a short span of time she changed jobs becoming a technology teacher at Kirby Junior High School, got married to her husband, Justin, and had her son Jasper.

Soon after followed the birth of her daughter, Jynsen.

Baking got put on the back burner for a while when Hohertz adjusted to her new career and family.

In October 2017, Hohertz said she noticed Jasper seemed to be having issues digesting gluten.

Her husband Justin does not have celiac and Hohertz had been cooking both gluten-free food for herself and items with gluten for her husband and the kids.

She asked Jasper’s doctor about changing him to a gluten-free diet and the doctor okayed the idea.

A celiac test is usually not done before age three and Hohertz said she did not want her son to have to go through the process until necessary.

After a few months on the diet, she said the change in her son was noticeable.

While he had a small appetite for some time, after switching to gluten-free, Jasper was eating everything in sight.

It was only after having children, Hohertz said, that she noticed the lack of fun, colorful, sprinkle-covered baked goods for gluten-free eaters.

She began making treats for Jasper – his favorite was animal crackers covered with frosting and rainbow sprinkles.

Before cooking for her son, Hohertz did not know that most sprinkles on store shelves have gluten.

One day, friends of the family came over and tried the cookies, remarking on how tasty they were and said Hohertz should sell the cookies.

“The market is a lot bigger than it used to be,” she said.

Aside from full-blown celiac, a possible 20-30 percent of the U.S. population could have a gluten intolerance or allergy.

Along with celiac, Hohertz has lactose-intolerance and regularly crafts recipes that taste just like regular baked goods, without milk or wheat flour.

One of the most restrictive endeavors, she said, was a birthday cake for a young boy that was soy and dairy-free.

Hohertz said most food dyes contain soy and it is also hidden in many other products.

“If they ask for something specific, I can make it that way,” she said.

Another difficult project was a three-tier wedding cake that was gluten free.

Since gluten-free flours and flour blends are more dense than regular flour, she said it was quite the challenge to get the heavy cake to not collapse on itself.

Since then, though, Hohertz said she has had breakthroughs in recipe experimentation and subsequent cakes have turned out great.

For kids with food allergies or celiac, Hohertz says just like any child, they want to feel normal – to be able to eat fun and tasty goodies like everyone else in the class or birthday party.
For now, Hohertz is starting small with a menu of about 10 choices of cookies, cakes, cupcakes or donut holes.

Items include fabulous frosted flowers; mini-donut nummies; frosted mini-donut yummies; cookies in chocolate chip, peanut butter or sugar; cupcakes in vanilla, chocolate or specialty flavors; custom cakes; and donut holes in glazed, powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar or chocolate glazed.

One of her most popular creations are frosted mini-donut yummies – named by Jasper.

They are vanilla wafers with a hole cut in the middle so they resemble donuts. The cookies are then frosted with bright colors like pink and blue with ball sprinkles.

She hopes to expand her menu in the future as she sees what is popular and explore new recipes.

Hohertz dreams of having a stand-alone bakery someday, but said for now she enjoys teaching and having the baking business on the side.

Goodies can be ordered through the Gluten Free Goodys Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/GlutenFreeGoodys/ or emailing Hohertz at stacey.hohertz@gmail.com.