Crunchy, Creamy and Chewy: The Triangle of Texture When Making Desserts

Let’s explore these three textures and explore and how to incorporate them into your favourite desserts!

Crunchy

The reason behind our attraction to crunchy treats relates to the auditory accompaniments of crunch, such as the crackling and grinding noises you hear in our ears when we bite into something with this texture, prolonging your focus on the food and making it seem more exciting and enjoyable for longer.

Even if working with produce that doesn’t feature crunch, there are always ways to transform their outcomes, typically through processes including freezing or, more commonly, frying, which plays a crucial role by triggering the Maillard reaction. The Maillard reaction is a natural chemical process that occurs when sugars collide with amino acids, producing enticing aromas and flavours associated with crystalised, browned and caramelised treats, ultimately making the end result nice and crispy crunchy.

Here’s how you can incorporate these textures into your cooking:

1. Decorate with freeze-dried fruits: Whether they’re used as toppings to a chocolate mousse or decoration on a birthday cake, freeze-dried fruits will introduce that crispy element to elevate your dessert perfectly.
2. Work with sugar: If you’re up for a crispy treat that might have you scheduling more dentist visits, try experimenting with sugar. Adding a teeth-shatteringly crunchy element to your desserts is surprisingly simple and fun. Simply heat sugar at a high temperature until it becomes dark and golden caramel brown, perfect for eating on its own or adding as a final touch to your dessert masterpiece.
3. Add nuts or sweet granola: Looking to add more crunch but want a healthier touch? Whether it’s a blend of almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, seeds and honey or just any of them on their own, these natural foods can quickly satisfy your textural cravings by either blending them into a dessert or using them to sprinkle on top.
4. Create chocolate bark: Take your desserts to the next level with homemade chocolate bark. A simple addition that gives you the freedom to add whatever elements you want. Simply melt high quality chocolate and adorn it with some of your favourite crunchy pieces, such as nuts, dried fruits or even rice bubbles, then break into large shards!
5. Add sea salt: Just by adding a sprinkle of sea salt to your dessert as a subtle topping , you can turn a simple treat into an crunchingly indulgent experience. For example, sprinkling sea salt over your freshly-baked brownies can introduce a contrast that accentuates the sweetness of chocolate as well as a subtle crunch.

Creaminess

It’s no coincidence that mousse and ice cream are such popular desserts. Creaminess is an excellent texture for coating, binding, bringing balance and combining with other textures to create a truly magnificent dessert. Creaminess also tends to bring moisture to the party, ensuring that your dessert isn’t too dry for your guests.

These are some quick ways to incorporate more smooth, creamy goodness into your desserts:

1. Toppings and coatings: Drizzle your creations with creamy toppings or coat them with luscious sauces to enhance their flavours and textures. Caramels and chocolate sauces come to mind!
2. Gelatine: Incorporate gelatine in more of your desserts to introduce a silky and smooth layer contrasting well with the rest of your dish. It’s the secret ingredient to some of your favourite desserts from panna cotta to jellies.
3. Add spreads and puree: Expand the creaminess of your dish with the addition of simple spreads like peanut butter or Nutella or even your favourite fruits in puree form to add to the overall experience of your dessert.

Chewiness

The science behind why we sometimes prefer chewiness over other textures relates to the air intake when chewing. Our jaws work harder to chew something with this texture and the air intake allows us to taste more complex flavours. Plus, who doesn’t love to chew on something over and over again, savouring every single morsel of food.

Here are three ways to incorporate more chewy elements into your desserts:

1. Reduce, reduce, reduce: Intensify flavours and introduce chewiness through reduction of your favourite liquids. Don’t take it too far, but by heating and caramelising the inherent sugars in these liquids, you’re also evaporating water, leaving behind all those delicious flavours in a thicker and, once cooled, chewier medium.
2. Add flour: Experiment with rice flour to achieve a delightful chewy consistency akin to the beloved mochi. It’s fun to pull apart and squish and enhances the flavours of the inside contents from all that chewing you’re doing.
3. Use paste: Incorporate various pastes to create a rich and velvety texture such as almond, red bean or hazelnut. They add flavour to your sweet treats and contribute to that delectable chewiness you’re craving.

Whether you crave something crunchy, chewy, creamy or a harmonious blend of all three, mastering the art of these textures will take your desserts to new heights, leaving a lasting impression on every palate.