Got this question from a friend recently and I thought the info might be helpful to post here:
Q: Hope you don’t mind me asking your advice. I have a bunch of
fruit I was hoping to make a fruit crisp. Today in the
Washington Post was a delightful article on crisps.
My question is…could i substitute the wheat flour with oat flour without noticeable difference? And how about margarine for butter? If I start doing too many subs, will that just “uncrisp” my crisp?
I’m going to try it with the subs, but I thought you might know
from your experience what has worked.
A: I like a mixture of oat flour AND old-fashioned oatmeal AND chopped nuts, unless you’re allergic to nuts. I don’t miss the wheat flour at all. I’m not sure about the margarine though — are you substituting that to get less fat? I haven’t really cooked with margarine in a long time so i wouldn’t know. However i’ve baked with “better butter” — homemade butter mixed with canola oil — with good results. I suppose margarine could work okay since it’s also fat.
Her experiment turned out okay except for a soggy bottom. What I forgot to tell her (mea culpa) is that I don’t make “bottoms” anymore when I make fruit crisps, unless I want something there. It’s BOUND to get soggy especially when you use berries, even if you vary the material. I only do “tops”.
If you want crisp bottom-tender fruit-crisp top, the best way to achieve this is to pre-bake the bottom, pre-cook the filling, and chill the topping before using it. However, this may be too much work than most people want to do for a fruit crisp, so I offer my other easier-than-easy fruit crisp:
Use your favorite brand of granola!!!
Slice up whatever fruits and berries you like, add a bit of lemon juice and sugar (or honey if you like), perhaps some cinnamon if you like that flavor in crisps, but especially if you’re making apples, in which case throw a bit of nutmeg in there too, and maybe even a pinch of ground cloves. Let that sit for 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Spread the fruits and berries in a baking dish. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until heated through and to the degree of mush you desire:D. Increase oven heat to 425 degrees. Top with the granola, and bake for 7-10 minutes or until granola is golden and crunchy. (You don’t even have to bake it, after the fruit is cooked, you can just top it with granola and eat as is.) You could even toast the granola lightly on the stove-top while the fruit bakes in the oven, then put it together when they’re done!
The great thing about granola is that a lot of them are already wheat-free, so for people with wheat sensitivities, they’re so handy to have in the cupboard, esp. in the summertime when fruits are plentiful!
The one other tip that I had was that you could use a light olive oil (not extra virgin, because the flavor may be too dominant) in place of butter, but use just enough to moisten the ingredients a bit. Canola oil is another healthy alternative. I have not been too disappointed with baked goods where I’ve substituted canola for most or all of the fat, EXCEPT that I won’t do this where butter is the essential flavoring, as in BUTTER cookies. Canola cookies just don’t have the same appeal, does it.
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