Healthy Dessert Experiment: Flourless Fruit Crumble

 

Crumbles are one of my favourite desserts. A great example of how a little goes a long way: fruit + a few other ingredients, put together in a way that transforms everything into a warm happy mess 😀 And I’ve realized they can be real crowd pleasers, too. I think the humble crumble- and her many cousins- are uncomplicated, forgiving desserts that won’t let you down.

Yeah. I really feel for crumble. Is it strange to have feelings for a dessert?

Hmmm…I’ve come this far, so I might as well take the liberty to ramble a little longer. Here are 5 more reasons why I think you absolutely must involve crumbles in your dessert routine.

• Crispy on top + juicy and melting beneath.
• No fancy baking equipment required. No whisking. No whipping. You don’t even need a fork!
• You can serve them individually.
• It takes less time to assemble than a pie or a cake.
• You can make them with any kind of fruit! (Ok, perhaps not with watermelon. We’d best leave those for juices, smoothies or as they are. But has anyone had a watermelon crumble? Let me know.)

This *healthy* crumble came about as a way to use up leftover almond meal and Granny Smith apples. I usually make my crumble topping with some butter, sugar, flour and oats, but I thought Hey! Almond meal. Why not? And if you have a guest, friend or anybody who eats gluten-free, then this crumble is the way to go. (I pulse my own almond meal with the skin on, FYI.)

Flourless stone fruit crumble from It’s All Good
image courtesy | http://www.self.com

The inspiration for this recipe comes from the Flourless Anything Crumble recipe from It’s All Good. In it, Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Turshen came up with a vegan, sugar-free and gluten-free crumble recipe, for any kind of stone fruit. I didn’t go the vegan or sugar-free route, just opted for the use of almond meal instead of flour. You could easily stick to the healthier option as outlined in the book: leave out the butter, swap the oats for quinoa flakes, and sub the granulated sugar for a combination of maple syrup + brown rice syrup. (Quinoa flakes and brown rice syrup are things I will probably not buy. Like ever. So I just converted the healthy recipe into a with-sugar, with-dairy version.)

 

 

FLOURLESS APPLE CRUMBLE (Adapted from It’s All Good.)

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups Granny Smith Apples, cored and chopped
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar+ 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
• ½ tablespoon lemon or lime juice
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
• ½ cup almond meal
• 2-3 tablespoons cold butter

METHOD

• Preheat the oven to 200 C
• In a bowl, toss the chopped apples with the lemon/lime juice, 2 tablespoons brown sugar and cinnamon powder and set aside.
• In another bowl, mix the almond meal and 4 tablespoons granulated sugar until well combined.
• Work the cold butter into the almond meal mixture with your fingers until it’s rubble-y and like wet sand.
• Divide the chopped apples between individual ramekins.
• Crumble the mixture over the fruit and bake until the top is browned, about 15-20 minutes. (Do check on your crumbles, since oven temperatures vary- I took mine out at 15, other ovens may need more or less time.)

 

Almond Shortbread | Eggless Almond Cookie Recipe

Hmmmm… so what’s better than a good old buttery cookie? A good old buttery nibbly cookie, that’s what. With nuts.

This cookie is a simple variation to classic shortbread, with an extra ingredient- ground almonds or almond meal. You could use pretty much any kind of nut- walnuts, pecans, or macadamia; I settled for almonds because I am a little obsessed with almond meal. And as a result, I usually have some almond meal ready and waiting for baking.

Since I am also of the belief that chocolate chips make everything better, I dotted each cookie with a single chocolate chip prior to baking. A little chocolate makes everything more fun. And classy. And yummy!!

The dough is a little coarser and easier to work with, and the end result is a rich, nibbly cookie flecked with bits of brown almonds. I like keeping the skin on the almonds when I make almond meal, but you can easily use blanched almonds- it will still taste great!

The recipe uses the same 1-2-3 formula, of 1 part sugar : 2 parts butter : 3 parts flour…the only difference being the portion of flour is divided into equal parts all-purpose flour and almond meal.

ALMOND SHORTBREAD (Adapted from Michael Ruhlman’s Ratio.)

INGREDIENTS

• 50 grams sugar
• 100 grams butter
• 75 grams all-purpose flour
• 75 grams almond meal
• Chocolate chips for decoration, as many as required

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until the sugar is evenly distributed and the mixture turns pale.
• Fold in the flour and almond meal little by little and mix until a uniform dough is formed.
• Shape the dough into a ball, press down into a thick disc, wrap in cling film/plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour.
• Once chilled, roll out the dough on a floured surface OR between two sheets of plastic wrap. Roll to a thickness of about a quarter of an inch thick.
• Cut into shapes using a cookie cutter. Gently press a chocolate chip into the centre of each cookie, then place on a baking tray.
• Bake at 180C for 10-15 minutes; or until the edges turn light golden.
• Cool completely before consuming.

1-2-3 Shortbread Cookies | Easiest Cookie Recipe, No Eggs Required!

I kicked off this week with a guest post for Uru’s blog, Go Bake Yourself. I made a lemon-flavored shortbread cookie for her blog, and sandwiched it with Nutella. The recipe was inspired by a basic cookie recipe from Michael Ruhlman’s brilliant book, Ratio.

If you are interested in learning more about the science behind baking, please pick up this book. It is pretty darn amazing. The book focuses on cooking via ratios instead of recipes.  Ruhlman illustrates how every dish has a ratio at it’s core, and once you understand that ratio, you won’t need to refer to a recipe. A classic example would be a pound cake, which combines a pound each of butter, sugar and flour to create a moist and fluffy cake. In the book, there are similar ratios for other baked goods, breads, pasta, sauces, stocks and meat. These ratios can really free you up in the kitchen and give you room to experiment.

This recipe, the 1-2-3 cookie, uses a ratio of 1 part sugar : 2 parts butter : 3 parts flour.

This shortbead, which Ruhlman describes as the ‘essence-of-a-cookie’ cookie, is classic. Just three ingredients combined in a a certain proportion in a certain way…and once baked, you have a crisp, buttery, delicate cookie which can go with pretty much anything.  I’m partial to shortbread because it is so amazingly versatile and can be spruced up to create something really phancy. (Chocolate-dipped and jam-sandwiched, for example.)

While it is a forgiving dough overall, don’t be fooled by the simplicity of this cookie. I’ll tell you why. The list of ingredients and the way they are combined may seem simplistic; almost docile; but you need to treat that dough with love. I have made shortbread many times, and there were times when I didn’t rest the dough long enough in the fridge, resulting in a toothpastey dough which stuck to my fingers. Let it rest for a minimum of 30 mins to an hour, longer if required.

A toothpastey dough really sucks. It sticks to your fingers, your counter, the plastic wrap and when you try to get it off your fingers it sticks to other parts of you, and if you are a mom like me, then you have a toddler who starts looking at you all funny because you have blobs of goo stuck to your face which you can’t help eating. (Yes, I’m weird like that. And deep down…I know you eat cookie dough too.)

Most recipes I have come across will tell you to roll out the dough on a floured surface, but I actually like rolling it between two sheets of plastic wrap. Another method I’ve used is chilling the dough in a plastic baggie, rolling it out in the baggie, then ripping open the baggie when it’s time to cut out shapes.

I kind of blame the humid conditions here in Mumbai- it becomes rather difficult to roll stuff out on a granite surface. And slicing open the ends of the plastic baggie with a sharp knife gives me this strange surgical-precision kick, even though I never ever cut neatly.

Now, normal people would press down the ball of dough, allow it to chill and roll it out into a large circle. I prefer rolling it into this half-moon shape because I find it easier to cut shapes with my rather small cookie cutter. It is just easier to maneuver.

I am getting bored with this cookie cutter shape. I need to buy some hearts and stars.

All you need to do is pop them in the oven at 180C for about 10-15 minutes and you’re done!

As you can see, these cookies do not rise much- they do not contain eggs or baking powder/baking soda. The butter is what gives it that beautiful, crumbly texture. Simple, buttery and delicious 🙂

Another advantage? You can store some of the prepared dough in the freezer for a rainy day/unexpected visitors. And they  trump store-bought ‘butter biscuits’ any day, so you get extra phancy points in front of your guests 🙂

1-2-3 SHORTBREAD COOKIES (From Micheal Ruhlman’s Ratio.)

INGREDIENTS

• 50 grams white sugar
• 100 grams butter
• 150 grams all-purpose flour

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until the sugar is evenly distributed and the mixture turns pale.
• Fold in the flour little by little and mix until a uniform dough is formed.
• Shape the dough into a ball, press down into a thick disc, wrap in cling film/plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour.
• Once chilled, roll out the dough on a floured surface OR between two sheets of plastic wrap. Roll to a thickness of about a quarter of an inch thick.
• Cut into shapes using a cookie cutter, place on a baking tray and bake at 180C for 10-15 minutes; or until the edges turn light golden.
• Cool completely before consuming.