Bad Ass Baker
Huzzah! I am a master baker this week. Yes it is true. I made a gluten-free, yeast-free, sugar-free apple crisp on Sunday that was not only to die for, but just off the top of my head!
I perfected my mother's apple crisp recipe many years ago and I used to make it all of the time. In fact, when I was working in Ohio - one of the many times - through all the major holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas) it was a mainstay in the CoHo a.k.a company house.
I love this recipe so much that I found myself doing a vegan variation for my sister who has been vegan for at least 15 years. I know right?!? How does she live without CHEESE?
Anyway, a couple of years ago I found out I was addicted to sugar so I weened myself off during tech of a political musical farce. Probably not the best idea considering I was an immediate replacement and had a week to learn the show and I wasn't eating sugar. Sometimes I am the most smartest. I was DYING for something sweet and was tired of just eating plain old apples. So I did some research and found out that I could bake with vegetable glycerin. Yes, I know what you are thinking, "isn't vegetable glycerin what they use to make SOAP!??!" Why yes, my friends it is. But it also happens to be a natural sweetener. The thing with vegetable glycerin is that it can get bitter so too much turns your sweet treat into a bitter apple betty.
I have been experimenting with the gluten-free, yeast-free, sugar-free recipe for a long time. Mostly with the flours. First it was rice flour - both brown and white - but the texture wasn't right. Then it was Quinoa flour which gave it a meatier consistency, but still not quite right. Straight up glycerin without any other sweetener didn't work either. So I started adding stevia to the mix and sometimes it worked and sometimes not so much. I also wondered what the consistency would be like if I used oat bran instead of rolled oats. That was good, but not great. I liked the apple crisp a lot but I started to get tired of that one recipe and I started experimenting with other gluten-free, yeast-free, sugar free confections turning my back on my crisp for some time.
Well, this weekend I was jonzing for apple crisp, but I couldn't find the recipe anywhere. When I went to all of the usual places for it, it wasn't there. I recently moved and reorganized everything could I have thrown the sacred recipe away? Say it ain't so. Thankfully, it was my mother's recipe so I got on the horn and begged her for it. Much to my chagrin, my mother was on the beach and not near her tried and true recipes. I was on my own...
So with all of the apples cut what was a woman to do? Make it up! 4 apples, some veggie glyc, 4 stevia packets, 3/4 cup of flour - half brown rice flour, half white bean flour - a little bit of unsalted butter, 1/4 cup of water, a pinch of salt, a generous amount of cinnamon, and 3/4 cup of oatmeal. I set the oven at 350 and crossed my fingers. It started to smell GLORIOUS in my apartment in no time and about half way through, I added some extra water to really get it gooey and delish.
Gluten-free, sugar-free, yeast -free Apple Crisp.
I perfected my mother's apple crisp recipe many years ago and I used to make it all of the time. In fact, when I was working in Ohio - one of the many times - through all the major holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas) it was a mainstay in the CoHo a.k.a company house.
I love this recipe so much that I found myself doing a vegan variation for my sister who has been vegan for at least 15 years. I know right?!? How does she live without CHEESE?
Anyway, a couple of years ago I found out I was addicted to sugar so I weened myself off during tech of a political musical farce. Probably not the best idea considering I was an immediate replacement and had a week to learn the show and I wasn't eating sugar. Sometimes I am the most smartest. I was DYING for something sweet and was tired of just eating plain old apples. So I did some research and found out that I could bake with vegetable glycerin. Yes, I know what you are thinking, "isn't vegetable glycerin what they use to make SOAP!??!" Why yes, my friends it is. But it also happens to be a natural sweetener. The thing with vegetable glycerin is that it can get bitter so too much turns your sweet treat into a bitter apple betty.
I have been experimenting with the gluten-free, yeast-free, sugar-free recipe for a long time. Mostly with the flours. First it was rice flour - both brown and white - but the texture wasn't right. Then it was Quinoa flour which gave it a meatier consistency, but still not quite right. Straight up glycerin without any other sweetener didn't work either. So I started adding stevia to the mix and sometimes it worked and sometimes not so much. I also wondered what the consistency would be like if I used oat bran instead of rolled oats. That was good, but not great. I liked the apple crisp a lot but I started to get tired of that one recipe and I started experimenting with other gluten-free, yeast-free, sugar free confections turning my back on my crisp for some time.
Well, this weekend I was jonzing for apple crisp, but I couldn't find the recipe anywhere. When I went to all of the usual places for it, it wasn't there. I recently moved and reorganized everything could I have thrown the sacred recipe away? Say it ain't so. Thankfully, it was my mother's recipe so I got on the horn and begged her for it. Much to my chagrin, my mother was on the beach and not near her tried and true recipes. I was on my own...
So with all of the apples cut what was a woman to do? Make it up! 4 apples, some veggie glyc, 4 stevia packets, 3/4 cup of flour - half brown rice flour, half white bean flour - a little bit of unsalted butter, 1/4 cup of water, a pinch of salt, a generous amount of cinnamon, and 3/4 cup of oatmeal. I set the oven at 350 and crossed my fingers. It started to smell GLORIOUS in my apartment in no time and about half way through, I added some extra water to really get it gooey and delish.
Let me tell you something folks: this apple crisp is OFF THE HOOK. The apples are tart and sweet. The dough is crumbly, yet dense and not even a hint of bean flavor. It is sweet, but mildly so. MAGIC, especially with a scoop of rice dream. So until I make Seth's birthday cake at the end of the week, I will bask in the glory that is the perfect gfyfsf apple crisp.
Gluten-free, sugar-free, yeast -free Apple Crisp. 
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