fruit crumble failure, why?

[lrw60]

I have tried to make a fruit crumble twice now and it hasn't worked. I tried using soya flour and ground almond as the mix with butter to create the crumble, but it was too dry and the whole thing had no real body. My second attempt at a crumble was a bit better than the first, but only just. This time I made a smaller crumble (not enough rhubarb sprouting at the moment) 40g soya flour, 13g ground almond, 25g butter. All mixed up as per pasty instructions and it made a very convincing mix, much better than my first try. I pre-cooked the rhubarb and apple for 5 mins in a little water. The fruit was placed in a small glass dish and the crumble mix poured on top and slightly firmed down, not too much pressure. The dish was put into a pre-heated oven at 200c for 30 mins. It all looked fine when I took it out, but the mix still lacked any body, very powdery. I didn't use any sugar substitute this time and it didn't need any I felt. Ah well, plenty of flour left in the bag, I just need to let a bit more rhubarb grow before trying again!
If anyone can offer advice I would be very grateful. A sweet tooth is a terrible thing. Now, how do I make low-carb egg free custard?
Lee.

 

[Finzi]

Well when I made crumble, I did put a certain amount of rolled oats in as well. Not too many cos they're quite high carb. Maybe 2oz? I can't remember. But that was for the whole crumble of which I only had a quarter. I also think maybe you're not using enough butter? Lack of butter would make it powdery too.


Type 2 on Metformin, diagnosed Jan 2013, ultra low carber, Hba1C at diagnosis 8% (11mmol), now between 5 and 6 mmol. 20kg lost so far

 

[LittleGreyCat]

Perhaps you could use oil instead of butter?
Then you mix by eye until it is 'crumbly' - it has to be quite a stiff mix.

Cheers

LGC

 

[lrw60]

Thanks Finzi, my friend Lorna makes crumble with oats, it does taste great but then she uses other 'real' ingredients too! I do have 60g of porridge in the morning so a bit more isn't going to hurt me. I was just trying to make a crumble that could be eaten by most diabetics. I thought that 25g of butter would be enough for the amount of flour/almond, but I couldn't rub any more in, the butter didn't seem to be soaking up the powder as well as I thought it should.
LGC, have you tried making a mix using oil? It sounds interesting. Which oil would you use?
Lee.

 

[lovinglife]

Hi Lee,

I make crumble now and then, I don't use soya flour, I find the taste pretty awful and it seems to upset my stomach, plus I am not too happy about all the bad things said about soy flour I did use it once in crumble and it was an epic fail, here's what I do and it makes a nice pud though not as one made with good old flour - but then nothing is IMHO

I can't give you exact weights as I do it by eye and feel, I use about 100g of almond flour about 30g of butter and I do use granulated sweetener to taste and texture (Splenda as its heat stable) I also add about a handful of chopped hazelnuts to give it texture,

Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix with the blade of a knife, then with the butter well chilled chop it up into small pieces and add to the dry mix - then DON'T rub it in but cut it through the mix with a knife - like you would do with pastry - this stops the mixture getting too oily from the almond flour which is where why I expect you are getting the problem

This works for me every time let me know how you get on - also I cook my filling first and make sure it's not too wet as there is no flour in the crumble to soak up the juices so this will add to the sogginess

As to the egg free custard will have a think about that one but it may be difficult as that is the thickening agent in a low carb custard

 

[LittleGreyCat]

Thanks Finzi, my friend Lorna makes crumble with oats, it does taste great but then she uses other 'real' ingredients too! I do have 60g of porridge in the morning so a bit more isn't going to hurt me. I was just trying to make a crumble that could be eaten by most diabetics. I thought that 25g of butter would be enough for the amount of flour/almond, but I couldn't rub any more in, the butter didn't seem to be soaking up the powder as well as I thought it should.
LGC, have you tried making a mix using oil? It sounds interesting. Which oil would you use?
Lee.

Well, we make a standard(ish) crumble mix on "to hell with the carbs!" days.

So we use rolled oats .

5 measures wholemeal flour
7 measures rolled oats
3 measures sugar (or substitute)
mix with oil (rapeseed usually, but I quite like olive oil) until moist, adding a little at a time
sometimes some crushed or chopped nuts to jazz it up a bit, like walnuts

In emergencies (like when we have no rolled oats because my partner has used them all for her home made muesli) I have even substituted muesli for the rolled oats which does make a surprisingly good crumble.

I have never tried to adapt to other ingredients to cut out most of the carbs, but the main point that may help is that the amount of oil is variable with just enough to make the mixture moist and remove any 'dustiness'.
So when using alternative ingredients you start out with a moist mixture which hopefully will go nice and crumbly when cooked.
I think it may be more easy to judge than the traditional method of adding knobs of butter to the mix.

Hope this helps

LGC

 

[diadeb]

Hi Irw60, why not look at Defren's recipe in the low carb section for Caveman's crumble. It's super easy and all it is is Almond flour mixed with butter and placed on top of the fruit, lovely. Also whilst on holiday recently I tried it without the butter, I simply put the Almond flour on top of the fruit and it was also very fine, Deb

 

[lrw60]

Thanks to all who sent in suggestions, I will try them all over time, but I will have to space them out over a week or two or I could put on 30lb! I had my 2 semi-failures this week and didn't put any weight on, but I don't think I have lost any either. I was hoping to lose about 1/4 to 1/2 a pound. Also, I might wait until after I have my db blood test in a few weeks, I wouldn't want to spoil that! I am really getting into cooking now. I didn't do much cooking of fresh stuff until I became diabetic. One of my most favourite things is mashed potato in a meal I can have tomato sauce on, Heinz of course, and it's not ketchup it's sauce, I ain't posh.
Lee.

 

[RES]

I have made a crumble out of flax seeds and mixed nuts which I buy in holland and Barrett and then add melted butter. My partner loves it, daughter doesn't


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[badcat]

I make what I call 80:40 crumble mix which works lovely
80g each of oats,butter,coconut oil, flax seeds, chia seeds, ground almonds
40g each of coconut flour and whey protein powder
Mixed with stevia to sweeten