advice on sugar subs!
I don't bake much - usually my sister's the big baker of the family, and when she's home from college I'm sure we'll be overflowing with bread products and cookies.
BUT - i'm in a bake-y sort of mood today, and i'm going for something breakfasty. I would really rather not use actual sugar - things like muffins (which is kind of what im leaning towards) seem to wind up being about the caloric amount of about 5 normal breakfasts in one little package. Here's the dilemna - i'm not a splenda fan, and i'm looking for something more natural. I used a "morefiber baking blend" last time, and my muffins turned out awesome. But, now i can't find that in my grocery store's bulk bins!
does anyone know of a good (not toooo expensive) sugar substitute that won't leave my muffins so calorically dense that I don't wanna eat them, and have a tip on where to find it? anything stevia-ish has worked well for me in the past.
thanks serious eaters. you always have the best advice :)
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12 Comments:
honey. Best ever cookies I ever had.
pjracz10 at 3:42PM on 12/07/08
i thought it was the fat content in muffins that makes them such calorie bombs. what about substituting a part of the oil with applesauce? the other thing you could do would be to up the fruit content, which would allow you to decrease the amount of sugar.
cybercita at 4:46PM on 12/07/08
hey -- a while back, i posted to this forum to get opinions on the best vegan sugar substitutes. not sure about the calorie content, but these might be worth looking into:
http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2008/09/best-vegan-sugarssubstitutes.html
-- Ashley
makemethod.vox.com
makemethod at 5:17PM on 12/07/08
Most 'normal' muffin recipes I've come across, so long as they aren't huge or full of add-ins, run around 150 calories per muffin.
HeartofGlass at 6:24PM on 12/07/08
I found Truvia in my baking isle made from stevia, I'm using it in my coffee now instead of the pink or blue packets.
joanpieroni2 at 6:40PM on 12/07/08
We've started to use agave syrup in most everyday uses. Over pancakes, mixed in with oatmeal, etc.
Nursie at 10:08PM on 12/07/08
Genuine cane sugar, which is not white but beige works real well. They sell it everyplace now. Pure cane sugar. http://www.dominosugar.com/Product.aspx?id=40
I also use turbinado, demara, lyle's syrup and steen's pure cane syrup.
Depends on what you are baking.
One right off the top of my head is a Nick Malgieri recipe. Supernatural Brownies. This is good and moist and flavorful.
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/recipes/sup_brownies.html
You can sub pure cane sugar for regular white processed sugar in anything. I buy it in huge bags from Costco and bake with it.
It imparts a great flavor and is so much better for you.
I also have been buying for years Sugar Shots Turbinado syrup
http://www.sugar-shots.com/index.html
they also have an organic syrup. We use this for coffee, tea, breakfast, macerating berries, sweetening mostly anything.
JerzeeTomato at 3:23AM on 12/08/08
TRY "WHEYLOW" IT IS EVERY BIT AS GOOD AS SUGAR, TASTE THE SAME. YOU CAN EVEN DIP STRAWBERRIES IN IT AND NOT TELL THE DIFFERENCE. THEY HAVE BROWN SUGAR WHEYLOW ALSO. ONLY WISH THEY SOLD IT IN STORES! SASSYANNE
SASSYANNE at 4:18AM on 12/08/08
I like to use agave nectar. Depending on where you live, it may or may not be easy to find, but it's sweeter than sugar so you use less and it's supertasty.
joyyy at 10:25AM on 12/08/08
The big calorie culprit in muffins is fat not sugar. If you insist on using a sugar substitute that contains less calories and you don't like sucralose or aspartame, I think you should look at sugar alcohols. They have less calories and a much lower glycemic index than sugar.
Raw sugar is sucrose and has roughly the same amount of calories as refined sugar. Honey and agave nectar are fructose. I'd sure like someone to explain to me why the fructose in HFCS is bad for you and yet the fructose in honey and agave nectar isn't.
SqueezeBottle at 10:28AM on 12/08/08
Um, I think most people are anti-HFCS because of its prevalence in prepared/packaged foods that otherwise wouldn't have it if homemade, thus sneakily increasing many people's sugar intake. Also, the idea that it's in nearly everything packaged is just a little creepy.
I really hope that people don't think that honey and agave nectar don't have sugar in them ... because that's just silly. I for one just think it tastes better, and I use less since it's sweeter than white sugar. I also think agave plants are just freakin cool.
joyyy at 11:06AM on 12/08/08
@squeeze and @joyyy, this happens every time someone looks for a lower calorie or "healthier" version of something that's naturally decadent.
I can agree that honey, cane sugar, dried fruits, etc. all have reasons why they're a little heathier than white refined sugar, but the fact remains that sugar is sugar, and calorie-wise, the only benefit is going to be if you can use less of a particular product. I can't believe that the trace elements in a cookie or two is going to push anyone over the edge from non-health to health. Incrementally better, yes. But it's a cookie, not a meal.
However, since baking relies on formulas and ratios, once you mess with the formula, the end result isn't the same. Which is why I'm always baffled by instructions to substitute things like applesauce for fat. Basically you're substituting sugar water for fat, which doesn't make sense in terms of the formula, and it increases the sugar content in a sneaky sort of way.
So that leaves the weird sugars and chemical substitutes, and to be honest, I've never tasted on that didn't have an odd taste. And that includes Whey-Low, which a friend of mine uses.
If someone likes the chemical sweeteners, that's one way to reduce the calorie count, but I'm in the camp that says that I'd rather eat something made from a plant than something made by guys in white coats in a lab.
dbcurrie at 1:18PM on 12/08/08