I've spent the first year of law school with a baking/cooking to studying ratio that is probably a bit more biased towards food production than law consumption than most of my classmates.
I am pretty OK with that. I think many of my classmates feel the same way. First of all, because it has probably pushed my lower into the meatier part of the curve, thereby improving their positions. And second, because it I often share my baked goods with them.
Most of the time 1st semester, this meant bringing in banana bread, and while some people got a little bored with it, I feel like I have finally gotten around to a solid technique. More tinkering will come, but I can move on for now.
One problem with banana bread is that even if you cut down on the sugar, it is still pretty high in carbs. This meant that my diabetic classmate couldn't enjoy much of what I brought in to share. Two weeks ago I did my best to make a diabetic friendly rhubarb cheesecake. Lots of tinkering and splenda went into it.
Some issues that arose:
I am pretty OK with that. I think many of my classmates feel the same way. First of all, because it has probably pushed my lower into the meatier part of the curve, thereby improving their positions. And second, because it I often share my baked goods with them.
Most of the time 1st semester, this meant bringing in banana bread, and while some people got a little bored with it, I feel like I have finally gotten around to a solid technique. More tinkering will come, but I can move on for now.
One problem with banana bread is that even if you cut down on the sugar, it is still pretty high in carbs. This meant that my diabetic classmate couldn't enjoy much of what I brought in to share. Two weeks ago I did my best to make a diabetic friendly rhubarb cheesecake. Lots of tinkering and splenda went into it.
Some issues that arose:
- This was the second cheesecake I made in a hot water bath, and I think my foil wrapping job was less than adequate because my edges seemed a bit soggy.
- Another source of excess moisture: I don't think I cooked down my rhubarb sauce enough, and the layer in the middle seemed to mess with the texture of the cheesecake surrounding it.
- I'm not sure if I added too much Splenda or if I was just tasting my prejudice against it as a sweetener, either way I think I will try to reduce how much I use.
My diabetic friend and some other people seemed to enjoy it despite my misgivings.
To get around those issues I am thinking about buying some silicone cupcake trays. It should prevent the water problems and make sharing much easier. To allow for more real sugar and less Splenda in the recipe, I am going to try a ground almond based crust instead of graham cracker/flour. Because about half of the carbs in the cheesecake came from the crust, I was trying to think of an alternative without those carbs but that would still give some crunchy texture to go with the creamy filling. My inspiration for the almond crust came from the almond cookies my mother makes because she can't have gluten.
I'll post the results of those alterations later.
I'll post the results of those alterations later.
Low(er) Carb Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Continuing on my rhubarb binge (because the Capital Farmer's Market is full of the stuff, and because I love it), I set out to make a lower carb rhubarb crisp. The first thing was to reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe. Most recipes call for way too much sugar to balance out the sour flavor of the rhubarb, but what's the point of rhubarb if it isn't going to be sour? So the filling looked something like this:
Continuing on my rhubarb binge (because the Capital Farmer's Market is full of the stuff, and because I love it), I set out to make a lower carb rhubarb crisp. The first thing was to reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe. Most recipes call for way too much sugar to balance out the sour flavor of the rhubarb, but what's the point of rhubarb if it isn't going to be sour? So the filling looked something like this:
- ~1lb chopped fresh Rhubarb
- ~3/4lbs chopped fresh Strawberries
- 1/2 C white Sugar (as opposed to the 1 1/4C called for in the recipe I found)
- 2T Lemon Juice
- 3T Cornstarch
- 2t Vanilla
For the crust, I cut out more carbs by again reducing the amount of sugar and by replacing flour with ground almonds. The crust ended up being
- 1 C Traditional (not quick) Oats
- 1 C ground Almonds
- ~3/4 C Brown Sugar (not so packed)
- 5 T soft Butter (Like much of my baking "It's vegan, except the butter.")
- ~2 T Oil
- ~2 t Cinnamon
- ~3/4 t Salt
Anyway, I preheated the oven to 375 F, spread the topping more or less evenly over the filling in a 9x9 pan, baked for 30min, then baked for another 30min at 325 F. At 30min, the crust still looked alright, but after the filling really started bubbling, I ended up with this:
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| The filling represents the Federal Governments voracious maw, swallowing up states' rights. (Coincidentally, like a strong central government, this still tasted good with ice cream.) |
The topping was neither on top nor crisp by the time it was done. Some possible solutions:
- Less fat in the topping to make it lighter, easier to crisp up.
- Bake off the filling for a bit before the topping goes on, reducing moisture while preserving flavor.
Since it isn't all that crisp, I've put it to use as the flavoring for my plain whole milk yogurt (Greek and regular).
In the end, the Strawberry Rhubarb crisp still isn't too diabetic friendly, but with organic oats (and depending on individual tolerance) it could be OK for people who can't eat wheat gluten. Reducing the sugar and replacing the flour also makes it a safer bet for people that want something sweet while watching their carb intake.
In the end, the Strawberry Rhubarb crisp still isn't too diabetic friendly, but with organic oats (and depending on individual tolerance) it could be OK for people who can't eat wheat gluten. Reducing the sugar and replacing the flour also makes it a safer bet for people that want something sweet while watching their carb intake.
