Sugar Free Baking

melt71

I've been doing a fair bit of baking recently which we are all enjoying scoffing, but I'm worried about the amount of sugar we are consuming and want to substitute Splenda for sugar as so many of my favourite recipe have loads of sugar in (fruit cobler, malt loaf, flapjacks, oat cookies).

Is it ok to do this? Some of the recipes like flapjack have honey in; could I use more honey and less sugar? and more fruit perhaps?

Any ideas/advice from experienced home bakers welcome

Mel

anguk

My OH is diabetic so I use granulated sweetener when I'm cooking for him, the fruit cobbler and malt loaf both turned out lovely using sweetener instead of sugar. Just about everything I make is either all sweetener or half sugar/half sweetener, it's really just a case of trial and error, some things don't have quite the same texture if I use all sweetener (like cakes) but other things taste exactly the same.

Just remember to always substitute by volume, 1tbsp sugar = 1tbsp sweetener because the sweetener is so much lighter, if you do it by weight everything will be sickly sweet!

melt71

anguk wrote:

Just remember to always substitute by volume, 1tbsp sugar = 1tbsp sweetener because the sweetener is so much lighter, if you do it by weight everything will be sickly sweet!

LOL yes I thought about that one yesterday when I was weighing out sugar. I guess I will have to weigh out sugar and then use the equivilant sweetner in volume in the mug/jug. That's the only way I could think of doing it to start with.

It's good to know that it can be done, thanks!

HOLsale

i've been rereading my tightwad gazette and i saw something in there about using bicarb in anything acidic to reduce the amount of sugar you need.

i'll have to look it up but it was something like 1tsp would reduce the need for sugar by a good portion (think it was 1/3 or 1/2)

that would really help a lot! it's referred to as baking soda in the states vs bicarbonate of soda in the uk...

anyway this page deals with ways to use less sugar

http://www.bellybytes.com/recipes/reducesugar.shtml

http://www.naturodoc.com/library/nutrition/natsweets_use.htm another one

i'm having problems finding the exact measures to use on google, it doesn't seem to like my search string! anyway i even found a dental site that says that a bicarb rinse helps to neutralise acid so i definately remember correctly, i just can't remember how much. i'll look later and get back to you

taplady

melt71 wrote:

LOL yes I thought about that one yesterday when I was weighing out sugar. I guess I will have to weigh out sugar and then use the equivilant sweetner in volume in the mug/jug. That's the only way I could think of doing it to start with.

It's good to know that it can be done, thanks!

I try and stick to the GI diet which uses Splenda and found it dufficult to work out amounts to use so I did what you did and weighed it out in sugar then used a similar looking amount of sweetener!
Anyone know of a better way????

melt71

Taplady, I think what I am going to do is adjust my recipe notes for splenda so that next time I know it will require 1/2 mug of sweetner rather than sugar etc. That way at least you'll know for next time. Not sure if there is any other way of doing this.

anguk

taplady wrote:

I try and stick to the GI diet which uses Splenda and found it dufficult to work out amounts to use so I did what you did and weighed it out in sugar then used a similar looking amount of sweetener!
Anyone know of a better way????

I always use the same tablespoon when measuring and I know that a rounded spoonful of sugar is roughly about 1 ounce so 1 rounded tablespoon of sweetener is one ounce. It might not work so well if you need exact measurements but I'm a bit of a "it's roughly the same, just chuck it in" type of cook!

Using sweetener can work out expensive if you use the branded stuff like Splenda, I use Asda or Tesco own brand granulated sweetener it's just the same and quite a bit cheaper than the big brand stuff, I think it's about 80p for a big jar.

Edit: Just checked Asda's website, their own brand granulated sweetener is 64p for a 70g jar, Splenda is £1.98 for 90g.
Tesco's own brand is also 64p for a 70g jar and Canderel is £1.98 for 75g.

Sarahsaver

I often use dried fruit instead of sugar, about half and half if the recipe will take it (banana cake for example) or just a couple of ounces otherwise.

hollydays

Try googling on "date suger" i think this is something made from dates healthier than sugar.Re the bicarb-not sure if its an old wives tale,mother told me bicarb destroys vitamins.?

melt71

anguk;

The reason I use Splenda is because it's actually made from sugar, whereas the other sweetners on the market are man made products/chemicals and have been linked to causing cancer in rats. In small doses I don't think there is a real danger, ie if you have the occasional spoonful in a cup of tea, but to use it for cooking you're putting quite large amounts in so I wouldn't want to risk it - especially as my 8 year old will be eating it. I'll check out the Asda and Tesco own brands to see what's in them though, thanks for the tip.