(Relatively) Low-Carb Apple Crisp

I make a variety of (more or less) crustless pies that are generically referred to as crisps.  The original recipe was peach, which I have since adapted to rhubarb and apple.  When using pre-canned apple pie filling, the recipe is:

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 stick of butter
1 quart apple pie filling

Put filling in a 9" x 13" greased dish, then mix the dry ingredients and spread on top.  Cut the butter thinly and place on top.  Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes.

I adapted this to:

1/2 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup brown Whey Low

...the other ingredients were the same.  After about 32 minutes in the oven, this is what it looked like:

Its appearance is not bad. The subtle grid pattern is from the pats of butter that were on top of the almond flour and oat mix.  Here's a side view.

This ended up being very sweet; overall it had extra sweetener because the pie filling already had some in it.  Taste- and texture-wise, it was completely fine.  For some applications almond flour works very well as a substitute for wheat flour.

Nut-Free Black Walnut Brownies

I know someone who tries to avoid eating nuts because of digestive issues.  While any brownie recipe can be made with or without nuts, brownies without black walnuts are a disappointment.  However, I have found what seems to be a reasonable workaround.

I saw some black walnut oil at Wal-Mart on a shopping trip last spring and decided to get it to see how it tasted.  The label hinted at flavor--some oils are very subtle, with olive oil being the most obvious exception.  It was also fairly pricey.

I put them into this recipe, adapted from tasteofhome.com:

2 1/2 sticks of butter (1 1/4 c), softened but not melted [note this is slightly reduced]

2 2/3 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups white flour

1 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

...and I normally add a cup of nuts.  I substituted 3/4 cup black walnut oil and 1 stick of butter for the fat instead of all butter.  And, since I'm an inveterate whole grain lover, I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 1 cup of white flour.  I used dark chocolate cocoa powder and Whey Low as the sweetener. The result needs baking longer than the 30 minutes advertised on the site--especially since, I have recently learned, my oven runs about 10 degrees cool (I suppose I should just up the temperature I bake everything at, but I've grown accustomed to it).

The result (apologies for the bad picture below) was more cakey than fudgy, but there was a noticeable black walnut flavor.  Overall, it worked well.

Good Oven Spring with a Whole Wheat Loaf

As I have written before, I sometimes do 100% whole wheat flour loaves.  I usually add vital wheat gluten (VWG) to improve the rise of the dough.  As I have also mentioned, I get better results in the winter--the lower temps inside the house seem to help the dough ferment (though this year I've been finishing the dough rise in the oven with the light on.  I saw a tip online somewhere that doing so would increase the temperature a bit and it does).  Too much rise on the counter translates to less in the oven.

This loaf was baked just before Christmas:

As you can see, it's nicely-shaped and the loaf broke at the top, which 100% whole wheat loaves usually do not. The crumb is still fairly dense (ignore the uneven slicing):

 

Flavor-wise, this is normal red whole wheat bread.  It looks pretty much like the non-VWG loaf I discussed previously...so maybe this isn't so impressive, after all.

It can be done, however, even if I seldom achieve it.  This loaf took a lot of extra water--2 3/4 cups total, for 3 3/4 cups of flour and 1/2 cup of VWG.