With the arrival of fall, baking is also on the rise. I want to share my experience in making baked goods with less sugar and sugar substitutes. My goal is to offer healthy yet tasty products.
Sugar is not just sweet!
When I teach healthy cooking classes, I tell my students to consider all the properties of an ingredient before replacing or removing it from a recipe. This is especially true for sugar and baked goods. Indeed, sugar is more than just a sweetener for a recipe. Natural sweeteners such as sugar, honey, molasses, syrups, and fruit juices can add texture, structure, volume, color, moisture, and softness to baked goods, but most sugar substitutes do not.
Sweet and light
In recipes where the primary role of sugar is simply to sweeten, such as cheesecakes and mousses, it’s usually okay to replace all or part of the sugar with sugar substitutes. However, always read the product instructions to ensure that the amount of sugar substitute used matches the amount of sugar sweetener in the recipe. This amount is not necessarily measured in cups.
Chemistry in the kitchen
However, for cakes, cookies, and quick bread, a more careful approach is needed to reduce the amount of sugar without compromising quality. Every recipe and substitution is different, but over the years I’ve found that with a few modifications – a little chemistry in the kitchen – low-sugar baked goods can be just as beautiful and tasty as those with sugar. Enjoy my “Better for You” chocolate cookies or try making your own low-sugar treats with these tips.
Tips for making low sugar baked goods
– Minimize the use of sweet ingredients such as sugar, sweetened condensed milk, candies, and jams, or replace them with reduced or no sugar products.
– When choosing sugar substitutes, make sure they are heat resistant. Sucralose (Splenda), Acesulfame-K (Diabetisweet), and Stevia (Stevita and Truvia) are heat tolerant. This is not the case for aspartame (Equal).
– For cupcakes and cakes, it may be necessary to use additional dilators. A good rule of thumb is to add 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder or 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder to 1 cup of sugar.
– Using a small amount of brown sugar or adding a teaspoon or two of molasses helps retain the traditional color and moisture of muffins and cookies.
– To reduce the amount of batter (as with the basic sugar-free variation), use smaller cake or loaf pans and expect to make fewer muffins or cookies.
– Flatten cookies before baking with the bottom of a cup or a spatula. For crisp cookies, use half the usual amount of sugar.
– A little extra spice or flavoring, such as cinnamon or vanilla, enhances the taste of low-sugar cookies.
– Low-sugar baked goods bake faster. Bake cakes 7 to 10 minutes earlier than usual, muffins and quick bread 5 minutes earlier and cookies 3 to 5 minutes earlier.
– Leftover healthy, low-sugar baked goods should be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap or foil and eaten within a day or two, as they spoil quickly. Muffins, cakes, and quick bread freeze well.
About Author
Sara is a qualified food expert at Main food line, Canada. She had graduated from the University of Cambridge. Sara loves to write about healthy nutrients which help to prevent the human body from various diseases. So people enjoy a healthy lifestyle. She is well experienced in pies near me in Canada and has an impressive portfolio of serving international clients.
