wheat-free apple crisp or crumble?

[phoebe]

We have a friend coming over for dinner who is trying to avoid wheat. Does anyone have a recipe for apple crisp or crumble that doesn't involve wheat flour? I have some that go 50:50 with oats, but I'd like to reduce or eliminate the wheat part altogether.
Thanks!

[katbalou]

i'm not sure if it would work - but maybe you could try something like rice krispies instead of the flour. mix your brown sugar and butter, then stir in the oats and cereal.
kat

[katbalou]

or another thought, using corn meal instead of the flour. you'd probably have to play with the ratios as it would be a little drier.

[Mezzaluna]

I'd check the ingredients for Rice Krispies to make sure it has no wheat in it. You never know with processed foods!

[sucrechef]

You might also try substituting either rice flour (no gluten) or corn starch. You will need a lot less corn starch than you would flour so watch the ratios and with rice flour it might be a little grainy, but with a crisp that shouldn't be a problem...a little extra crunch.

[phoebe]

Thank you all for the great suggestions! I guess I was wondering what the actual function of the flour was. If it's to bind the other ingredients, a little corn starch sounds right. But the rice flour sounds workable and I'm frankly intrigued by what the corn meal would taste like. Sounds like it might give the crisp a Native American slant. I think I remember reading about some sort of similar recipe with mixed berries and a corn-meal based topping.
I'm jazzed about all of these, since I'm definitely not a good dessert-maker. Yet when I have people over to dinner, it feels stupid to serve a store-bought (even a good bakery-bought) dessert when I've gone to so much trouble over the savory stuff.

[cinabun]

DOES Rice flour work as well as regualr wheat flour? I also have a friend coming for Thanksgiving that does not eat Wheat Based products. I want to make an Apple Crisp and am wondering if the Rice Flour will work as well and in general can you subsitute cup for cup and does it act the same way?
Cinabun

[Botanique]

How about a nut based crisp with brown sugar, butter, and corn starch with an addition of rice flour -- then add in your fruit....

[katbalou]

try: www.glutenfree.com
it seems that celiac spru disease(an intolerance to gluten) may be the culprit behind my health issues, got to go do the blood work this week. this really bites as it's christmas cookie time!!!!! argh!!
kat

[Katherine]

Obviously this is too late to help the original poster, but I have found that being unable to consume wheat also means I have had to eliminate oats, barley, and rye. I know this is also true for many people with celiac.

Being on this sort of diet is not an issue for me, as there are still many good things for me to eat, and I feel no urge to use any "substitutes". A bigger problem is that, regardless of how deep you go into detail to explain your dietary limitations, people usually go to a great deal of trouble to fix you something you can't eat. They fail to comprehend that being unable to eat bread means you can't eat pizza, or pasta, or flour tortillas. In fact, I don't mind not having very much available for me to eat, and I'm sure I won't starve. If I don't say anything in advance, they'll be upset I didn't give them an opportunity to make something available for me. But if I did, they get creative and make something they expect me to eat. I just have no idea how I should deal with this issue when it comes up.

[deltadoc]

Obviously your friend has expressed a wish to avoid wheat products. Have you simply asked if they can eat oats? If they can (I avoid wheat as much as possible too due to headaches, but oats have never been a problem), I'd just use Quaker Oats with butter and brown sugar for the apple crisp topping.

doc