Lately, I have been exploring “healthy” baking. Last week I made an apple cobbler. I used whole wheat flour, apples, a few tablespoons of Sugar In the Raw, two tablespoons of lite butter, cinnamon and nutmeg. The entire pie was about 700 calories. (That’s good, right?)
Tonight, I wanted to try a blueberry pie. I made the crust using whole wheat flour (again), lite butter, EnerG egg replacer, vanilla extract and Splenda. I baked that for 15 minutes. While the crust was baking, I poured two containers of fresh blueberries into a saucepan and reduced them for about 20 minutes.
I mixed in a half cup of Splenda and a little touch of water. I let that cool. I poured the mixture into the pie crust and added some fresh, whole blueberries.
To give it some crunch, I sprinkled some granola on top. I baked it all for about 30 minutes and I had a low-cal blueberry pie. :] And it’s good!
Tomorrow, it’s peaches. I think.
Toby and I just added it all up, this pie is coming in at about 705 calories. The entire pie. Splenda rules.
I donknow, Mihow, sooner or later that chemically enhanced food is gonna make you grow a third arm or something.
What the hell’s wrong with a 4500 calorie pie, anyway?
My dear, Fish. What is in this pie that you might considering chemically enhanced? The Splenda is actually sugar. It’s not like Sweet and Lo or something equally weird. I assure you, not much in this is chemically enhanced at all. :]
http://www.splenda.com/page.jhtml?id=splenda/products/faq.inc
Not chemically enhanced my ass.
How is SPLENDA® Brand Sweetener made?
SPLENDA® is the brand name for the ingredient sucralose. It is made through a patented, multi-step process that starts with sugar and converts it to a no calorie, non-carbohydrate sweetener. The process selectively replaces three hydrogen-oxygen groups on the sugar molecule with three chlorine atoms. Chlorine is present naturally in many of the foods and beverages that we eat and drink every day ranging from lettuce, mushrooms and table salt. In the case of sucralose, its addition converts sucrose to sucralose, which is essentially inert. The result is an exceptionally stable sweetener that tastes like sugar, but without sugar
Well, I guess one could argue that EVERYTHING is chemical. I mean, really.
Splenda isn’t harmful. That’s my understanding. And Egg Replacer (while I dig eggs) was used because Toby is vegan. I will not be growing a third arm. I don’t think. :]
I almost went on a shooting spree once, planning to eliminate two groups of retards:
1. “I don’t eat chemicals.”
2. “I don’t even OWN a TV.”
I decided to let them half-ass themselves to death instead.
egg replacer is tapioca and cornstarch, basically.
Jeez. That’s the last time I leave a smart-assed comment on this site at 8:30 on a Monday. Seriously, no offense to your scrumptious-looking pie intended. 1) I apologize for not doing research. “EnerG Egg Replacer” just sounds like it was cooked up on a bunson burner at NASA. 2) On the chemical thing, the egg replacer contains methylcellulose which, although a glucose derivative, is used in everything from stool softeners to cosmetics. 3) I love chemically enhanced food. I’m from Wisconsin, where they invented the idea (UW-Madison is a leading researcher in crop yield enhancement products and bovine production stimulants). My comment was more of a “throw caution to the wind and eat zillions of calories and drink dark beer and sit around in December at football games with no shirt on” kind of thing. ON THE THIRD ARM, I have one word: useful. ;)
“I almost went on a shooting spree once, planning to eliminate two groups of retards…”
tj, you crack me the hell up.
Oh fish, I fear that you do not know TobyJoe well. He’s a sweetheart, he is usually joking (especially on the Internets.) Also, he and Jon go way back and used to fight merciless on line. So don’t you worry about anything.
Speaking of chemically enhanced food, does anyone remember the episode of News Radio where Phil Hartmen is unable to eat the food out of the vending machine because it breaks and therefore ages like 35 years? It was very funny. Ahhhh phil hartman. We lost a good one that day.
“I decided to let them half-ass themselves to death instead.” I second Calvo.
M—were those pies as tasty as the pictures? Does splenda taste chemical-ly?
I’ll let Toby Joe chime in as well (if he’s not super busy for the rest of the day) but I don’t think Splenda tastes chemically. We have used it for making sweetened iced tea as well, and it’s rather good to be honest. I can’t taste the difference, but then again, I don’t eat a super amount of sugar. Put it this way, I can’t stand Equal or Nutra sweet (except for Diet Pepsi, that was an acquired taste I forced onto myself), and this is totally fine for my taste buds. :] But I’ll let him answer about the pies. Today, I’m making mixed berry: Raspberry, Blueberry, blackberry and chocolate. (The chocolate is an experiment. I worry this could be disastrous because I am using bakers chocolate and adding my own sweetener. We’ll see!
[1] I did see that episode of Talk Radio and loved it, particularly b/c those sandwiches in vending machines scare me and my stomach.
[2] As far as natural food alternatives go, I have one word for you: quorn
RE: quorn (from quorn.com)
…I mean, when you choose to manufacture a food product and label it as “chicken-style” you’re just opening yourself up to ridicule.
See, now maybe Fish is right. I might grow another arm because I used to love Quorn. Toby and I ate that chicken as if it we were starving. Then we realized how fatty it was and stopped. Actually, I think we stopped because it was impossible to find in D.C. That is, until Whole Foods opened. But seriously, we ate it often for a while. But I’m pretty good at opening myself up to ridicule. heh.
I think the weirdest part about Quorn is just how much it tastes like chicken. That’s actually kind of scary, if you ask me.
talk to me about the whole wheat pie crust… is it easy?
Rachel, so easy it’s kinda scary. This is what I did.
One cup of whole wheat flour.
1/4 cup of lite butter.
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 egg (or egg replacer)
1 cup of Splenda.
The recipe (which I changed to make less fatty) called for almond flour. But that has like 4000 calories and it’s so high in fat. So I changed it to be whole wheat flour. (Which holds 400 [for 1 cup] calories and very very little fat I think about 20 calories total.) The Splenda gives it a sweet edge. It comes out crispy and light. Try it. I don’t think you’ll be let down. :]
This is why I like you, Mihow. Scribbling obscure messages on bathroom stalls one day, and Julia Childs the next.
Eggs can equal anywhere from about 70 calories to about 120 (depending on if there is butter involved.) Egg replacer equals a mere 15 per “egg”. That said, and considering the egg replacer actually works well for baking, I like to cut corners where I can and use the replacer. That means, I can add chocolate to the top and not have the pie reach caloric levels out of this god damn world. That’s my plug for why I use egg replacer. Also, Toby is vegan and I love him.
what temp do you bake the crust at, then the pie itself?
Oh, dear me. I am so sorry I didn’t write this down! My guess (it’s been a while) is 350. That seems to be a temp I have used with other pies since. So sorry, Terry!