Playing with Food

Testing four kinds of apples: Mushu,
Sonata, Golden Delicious and
Jonagold

Empowered by a food science class that I took last semester, I decided to start experimenting on making desserts healthier. I love dessert, but haven’t been too happy with how devoid of nutrients most desserts are. Therefore, I wanted to start making my favorite desserts healthier while still keeping them delicious.

As my first project, I chose a dessert that I used to make all the time in Finland during the fall season: apple crisp. I had made it here in California before, but felt that something seemed different about it. In addition to making it healthier, this would be my chance to make it right, too. To help me make a decision on the right recipe, I had friends and family tasting different versions of the crisp and filling out score cards to grade them.

My friend Weiwei is filling a
descriptive testing score card
on three versions of the crisp

My first step was to find an apple variety that would taste great when baked. I tried many apples and by far the most flavorful one ended up being Jonagold. A close second was Granny Smith, which works well in this recipe, too. The first time I tried Jonagold apples, I realized the reason why my previous takes on the apple crisp had felt so wrong - I had used apples that are almost flavorless when baked. The complexity of the flavor of Jonagold apples made everything fall into place!

Next, I tried many combinations of fat and sweetener for the crisp. My favorite combination ended up being butter and agave syrup. (You might wonder how these are healthy, but they are less processed than vegetable shortening and white sugar, and as agave is mostly fructose, you might need less of it, too.) I noticed that ghee and virgin coconut oil could do the job, too, as well as maple syrup as a sweetener, although the crisp would then be slightly less sweet. The beauty of this recipe is that you can change the amounts of ingredients quite freely. The only thing to keep in mind is that the fat is supposed to “wet” the oats thoroughly.

Lastly, I looked for a recipe that would take the place of a Scandinavian instant vanilla sauce as a topping for the crisp. I did some substituting and found that a recipe using eggs and potato starch as a thickener worked pretty well. 

The final recipe? A flavorful mixture of apple and cinnamon, topped with vanilla goodness.

Funnish Apple Crisp (Omenapaistos)

2 Jonagold apples

2/3 stick Kerry Gold reduced fat butter

3 tbsp agave syrup

1.5 cups rolled oats (quick and baby rolled oats will also work)

Cinnamon to taste

Peel and slice apples, put into a baking dish that will accommodate the apples in a one to two-inch layer. Sprinkle with cinnamon and mix. Melt the butter and mix with the oats and maple syrup. Spread evenly on top of the apples and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake at 400F for 40 mins, or when apples become thoroughly soft. Serve with vanilla sauce.

Vanilla sauce (adapted from this Finnish recipe)

1 2/3 cup cold whole milk

1 egg

1 tbsp potato starch

3 tbsp agave syrup

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Mix the cold milk with the egg and the starch in a sauce pan suitable for heating milk. Make sure to break the egg completely. Heat the mixture while mixing continuously until it thickens and just starts to bubble. Put the sauce pan in cold water and add the agave syrup. Mix the sauce every now and then until you can touch the pan with your hand without burning. Add vanilla extract.

Note – this sauce will break down if you double dip your spoon in it. It also has a tendency to gel over time, so eat it soon after preparing.

Let me know what you think if you decide to try out my recipes! I'm sure there is always room for improvement.

Love,

Anna-Kaisa