More than just an ingredient for soups and salads, spelt (and its flour in particular) is also an excellent ingredient for desserts. Generally cultivated at high altitudes, it’s also a tough grain – requiring no weeding or fertilization with chemical products. So it’s more “natural” grain, making it especially prized by those who value authentic and environmentally friendly ingredients.
Nutritional benefits
Spelt is also very rich in fiber, made particularly rich by the presence of its casing: for this reason (when it comes to choosing the grains or the flour), we highly suggest buying the hulled spelt, since the pearled variety (lighter in color) has a lower nutritional value, even if it cooks faster. In fact, only the husk (or outer shell) is removed to make hulled spelt, which is a section lacking in nutritional value, anyway. On the other hand, pearled spelt undergoes a process of abrasion similar to rice. Spelt flour is made from ground Triticum spelta (or major spelt), Triticum dicoccum (spelt proper, or medium spelt, very similar to durum wheat) or Triticum monococcum (small spelt). From a flavor point of view, bread, pasta and cakes made with spelt are usually preferable to those made with whole-wheat flour.
The simplest ideas
Some dessert examples? Let's start with the simplest ones, taking inspiration from gastronomies along the Apennines, where they use spelt the most (starting from Tuscany, moving south to Puglia as you pass through Umbria). Let's start with spelt flour cookies. To make them, start by mixing 5 oz spelt flour and 2 oz white flour in a large bowl (both sifted and whisked together). Add 4 oz sugar, 2 eggs, 3 oz butter, a pinch of salt, the grated peel of one lemon, 1 cup of milk, 1 teaspoon of baking powder and a dash of vanilla extract. After working the dough, roll it out and cut out small triangle shapes. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and bake for 15 minutes. With the same recipe, you can also make cute little mini tarts! Then there’s always the classic idea for a crostata, made by mixing 5 oz spelt flour with 4 oz white flour. Or even better, an apple pie with spelt flour! For this one, you’ll mix the spelt flour with white flour, but the proportions are 2 to 1 for the ratios this time.
A question of measurements
As you can see, we generally recommend combining spelt flour with white flour. But not always: that also depends on the type of flour you’re using. Generally speaking, we recommend using spelt flour or monococo flour for cakes, since they’re softer in texture. The result will be a deliciously crumbly cake, which requires less fat and sugar thanks to the slightly sweet taste of the spelt. Generally, in order to transform a "normal" cake made with wheat flour into one made with spelt flour, it’s necessary to halve the quantity of regular flour. While spelt dough is leavening, moreover, it tends to increase more in volume. But be careful: There are no fixed "laws" about this, so it’s important to scrupulously rely on the indicated measurements or try with many tests.
Mattoncini di cioccolato (chocolate bricks)
So as you can see, there are many desserts to make with spelt flour! Another idea? Spelt flour chocolate mattoncini! To make them, first chop 4 oz dark chocolate coarsely and melt it with 3 oz butter in a bain-marie; whip 2 eggs with 4 oz sugar until frothy and creamy. Add 5 oz flour, 2 oz cocoa powder, a pinch of salt, melted chocolate and 2 oz chopped pistachios. Then transfer to a mold and top with a final dusting of cocoa before baking in the oven. Other mouth-watering recipes? Try spelt pastiera or strawberry-frangipane cake.
Spelt and pine nut granola
Spelt can also be used in desserts as whole grains, too! Like spelt and pine nut granola, for example! To make it, add 1 cup of milk to a pot and, once it comes to a boil, add in 4 oz spelt grains, 3 oz sugar, a dash of vanilla extract, a few whole cloves, raisins and pine nuts to taste, stirring continuously. Once the spelt is still al dente, take the pot off the heat and transfer the mixture into buttered molds to cool. For a final touch, add a sprinkling of cinnamon.