Whether you are reducing the sugar in your diet under your doctor's orders, because you are trying to lose weight, or maybe just because you are trying to have a healthier diet, those sudden and sometimes uncontrollable sweet tooth cravings can often make it difficult. One solution to dealing with those intense cravings is to learn how to replace the sugar in your baked goods so that you can still enjoy those yummy treats.
In most cases, when it comes to sugar and cooking, it is not difficult to substitute other, safer sweeteners for sugar. However, when it comes to baking, many recipes depend on sugar for more than just the sweetness factor. For instance, baking cakes, cookies and certain breads depend on the sugar to help them cook properly. In cakes, sugar is part of the reason that they rise so delicately high. In cookies, it is the sugar that helps them spread out so perfectly on the baking sheet. Those delicious candies that you love has to rely on the way sugar melts during the combining process that results in their sticky texture. Yeast-raised breads need sugar to start the reaction that causes the bread to rise. Although these delectable delights rely on the multiple qualities of sugar, below are some tips that can help you to properly replace sugar in some of your favorite treats.
Use Splenda Sugar Substitute Instead of Sugar for Sweetening There are many sugar substitutes on the market however, Splenda is the one that is most often recommended for baking and cooking. Unlike Aspartame, Sucralose, which is the main ingredient and sweetener in Splenda, is heat-stable. This simply means that Splenda does not lose its sweetness when it is baked or cooked, making it the ideal choice for sweetening any mouth-watering baked desserts from puddings to cheesecakes and more. In addition, the Splenda granulated sugar substitute is designed to measure just like sugar. One cup of Splenda has the same sweetening power as one cup of sugar, making substitutions extremely easy.
Special Tips for Using Splenda in Baking While Splenda sweetens just like sugar, it is important to note that it does not behave chemically like sugar does in certain recipes. The creators of Splenda offer certain helpful tips for replacing sugar with Splenda in baked recipes.
For bread and yeast based recipes you want to keep at least two tablespoons of regular sugar in the recipe to activate yeast. You can replace the rest of the sugar that the recipe calls for with Splenda.
For angel cake, pound cake, fudge and pecan pies, you only need to replace about one-quarter the amount of sugar called for in the recipe. Those recipes rely on sugar for their texture and if you reduce it too much, the items will not set up properly. You will still reduce the sugar by twenty five percent while still retaining all of the flavor.
For certain cakes and quick breads, replace the nine-inch pan with an eight-inch pan to maximize the rise of the dessert. You will also get a higher rise if you add a half of a cup of non-fat dry milk powder and a half of a teaspoon of baking soda for every cup of Splenda that you use. You can also add one envelope of Dream Whip to the recipe for added moisture and rise.
For crunchy or crisp cookies, try replacing only the white sugar with Splenda and leaving the brown sugar as is. Splenda also makes Splenda Sugar Blend and Splenda Brown Sugar Blend, which mixes sugar with Splenda so that you can reduce the calories and carbohydrates in your recipes by half, while still maintaining the right texture, browning and rise from your baking recipes.
Sweeten Recipes with Fruit Purees and Fruit Juices Many recipes can be sweetened naturally with fruit purees and fruit juices. Applesauce is one of the most common fruit purees used to add both sweetness and moisture to quick breads and cakes. Fruit juice concentrate is another excellent sugar substitute. White grape juice concentrate, apple juice concentrate and orange juice concentrate can all be used in place of sugar. For every cup of sugar called for in the recipe, use a quarter cup of fruit juice concentrate and reduce the liquid in the recipe by three tablespoons.
Use Honey to Sweeten Breads and Baked Goods Honey often tastes sweeter on the tongue than sugar does, so you need less of it to get the same sweetness. Honey also browns and liquefies when heated, though not exactly the same way that sugar does. Honey tends to brown more quickly than sugar, and makes baked goods moister and denser. For every cup of sugar called for in the recipe, use three quarters of a cup plus one tablespoon of honey and reduce the liquid in the recipe by two tablespoons. Add a pinch of baking soda to take off the acid edge.
Learning to bake without sugar or with reduced sugar takes a bit of time and effort, but the effort pays off in baked goods and desserts that are as nutritious as they are delicious.
Jeremy Foster is a freelance writer who writes about losing weight and keeping it off by exercising and eating low calories means with items like
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