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Alternatives to sugar for baking

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  • 28-02-2015 11:43pm
    #1
    eviltwin
    Registered Users Posts: 17,495 ✭✭✭✭


    Trying to go sugar free but still want to keep baking where possible. I've seen things like Agave Syrup being mentioned a lot and its really pricey and hard to find so looking for a cheaper alternative if possible.


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    #2
    Brussels Sprout
    Registered Users Posts: 6,564 ✭✭✭Brussels Sprout


    how about honey?


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    #3
    Faith
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,655 Mod ✭✭✭✭Faith


    There are sugar replacements like Stevia but you can't just swap out ingredients when you're baking. Baking relies on chemical reactions, so it gets much more complicated when you want to change ingredients. You'll have much less volume with a sugar replacement, typically. You'll probably go through a long trial and error stage with recipes.

    However, many sugar replacements are not particularly healthy or good for your body. Here's an article about agave syrup, for instance (backed up by science, which is always important). Just something to be aware of. For an occasional treat for a diabetic, sugar replacements are okay. But regular consumption, or just swapping sugar for sugar alternatives, won't do your health much good.

    Edit: Honey & maple syrup are both natural, but they are no different to sugar. They're both sweeter, so you arguably use less, but they may not work well in baking either.


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    #4
    CuppaCocoa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,858 ✭✭✭CuppaCocoa


    Coconut sugar. You can buy it in most health food shops.


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    #5
    thejaguar
    Registered Users Posts: 730 ✭✭✭thejaguar


    Bake some bread.


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    #6
    huskerdu
    Registered Users Posts: 1,931 ✭✭✭huskerdu


    You need to decide what your motive is for cutting out sugar and then look for alternative forms of sweetener what you are happy to use, then find some recipes for those ingredients. As Faith has pointed out, if a recipe has sugar in it, it wont work without it, or with a form of sugar/sweetener that is different in texture ( syrup vs dry sugar).
    Alternatively, bake non-sweet goods.

    Agave syrup is a processed syrup made from the agave plant. It is very similar to golden syrup and is just another form of sugar. It is made primarily from frustose and glucose - just like sugar. Is there are reason why you want to use it ?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agave_nectar


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    #7
    Seamus1964
    Closed Accounts Posts: 502 ✭✭✭Seamus1964


    Splenda, no calorie sweetener can be used for cooking and baking and measures and pours just like sugar.
    1 cup of Splenda sweetener is equal in sweetness to 1 cup of sugar.

    + 1 " However, many sugar replacements are not particularly healthy or good for your body "


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    #8
    cormie
    Registered Users Posts: 20,790 ✭✭✭✭cormie


    Lili Barlean wrote: »
    Coconut sugar. You can buy it in most health food shops.

    I was going to suggest this too. It's expensive, but it's delicious and I think it's meant to be much better than conventional sugar.


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    #9
    GaGa21
    Registered Users Posts: 652 ✭✭✭GaGa21


    I had a look thru Davina McCaul?s book in Easons. Forget what it's called- sugarfeee recipies anyway. And she seems to use Maplesyrup to replace sugar. Might be worth a buy for you.


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    #10
    al22
    Registered Users Posts: 169 ✭✭al22


    ugar = glucose

    Every food turn into glucose in our stomack and then glucose goes into blood and body

    So anything we eat is a glucose, fish, meat, flour, apples, potatoes, onions...
    It is not a sugar bad for us, it is the AMOUNT of food we eat

    Sweeteners are mostly bad and do more bad damages to our bodies, than real sugar. Our bodies must to consume sugar or gluose, or we will die.


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    #11
    Seamus1964
    Closed Accounts Posts: 502 ✭✭✭Seamus1964


    Not everything is broken down into glucose.Fats and proteins have their own uses, not just as energy sources.Fiber isn't broken down at all
    The main food type that turns into glucose is carbohydrates,sugars (and thus sweets) fall into this category. It also includes bread, rice, pasta, beans etc etc.


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    #12
    katydid
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,351 ✭✭✭katydid


    cormie wrote: »
    I was going to suggest this too. It's expensive, but it's delicious and I think it's meant to be much better than conventional sugar.

    It's still sugar though, so presumably still has calories


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    #13
    MissFlitworth
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,057 ✭✭✭MissFlitworth


    al22 wrote: »
    sugar = glucose

    Glucose is a sugar but all sugar isn't glucose. Sugars are always an -ose of some description but it's not all glucose (we're also eating sucrose, fructose, lactose etc. etc). And food you eat just isn't just turned directly into glucose in your system, as mentioned lots of other things happen there too. Syrups like maple & agave aren't sugar, as in the sucrose we think of when we think of sugar, but they still contain sugars and your system still treats them like it does other sugars.

    eviltwin, sometimes ripe fruit (although high in sugar in its own right) is used to sweeten baked things and so use less refined sugar. Banana bread is the only thing I can think of off the top of my head but I've seen muffin recipes with apple sauce used in as well


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    #14
    Toto Wolfcastle
    Registered Users Posts: 25,005 ✭✭✭✭Toto Wolfcastle


    MissFlitworth wrote: »
    eviltwin, sometimes ripe fruit (although high in sugar in its own right) is used to sweeten baked things and so use less refined sugar. Banana bread is the only thing I can think of off the top of my head but I've seen muffin recipes with apple sauce used in as well

    We use this recipe the odd time and it uses bananas and apples to sweeten it. It's not overly sweet though. I'd possibly stick a tablespoon or two of Splenda into the apples after stewing them to make it a bit sweeter. Splenda is pretty rubbish for baking because it doesn't have the same volume as sugar but it should be fine if it's just used to sweeten the apples. I think we used regular eating apples rather than Bramley too. I know some people have issues with using artificial sweeteners but a couple of tablespoons in a cake isn't going to kill anyone.


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    #15
    groovyg
    Registered Users Posts: 1,049 ✭✭✭groovyg


    al22 wrote: »
    ugar = glucose

    Our bodies must to consume sugar or gluose, or we will die.
    At the way people consume sugar nowadays - I don't think anyone will die from lack of sugar!


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    #16
    curly from cork
    Registered Users Posts: 1,550 ✭✭✭curly from cork


    The last batch of buns I made I used 3/4 of the amount of sugar in the recipe . It's not a big help but it was cutting back a bit ... Not one person even noticed, so I'll be doing it again.


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    #17
    Carawaystick
    Registered Users Posts: 8,779 ✭✭✭Carawaystick


    Seamus1964 wrote: »
    Splenda, no calorie sweetener can be used for cooking and baking and measures and pours just like sugar.
    1 cup of Splenda sweetener is equal in sweetness to 1 cup of sugar.
    "

    I used splenda making rice pudding half and half with white sugar and the texture was all wrong as was the mouthfeel


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    #18
    pwurple
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,449 ✭✭✭✭pwurple


    The motivation make a big difference I think.

    Diabetics for example, need to monitor sugar very strictly. I make things for some diabetics, but it's usually stuff like sugar-free jelly with fruit and cream.

    Or I've managed a splenda-version of a meringue for example.

    Diabetic chocolate rice crispie cakes.

    The splenda website is ok for that kind fo thing.
    http://www.splenda.co.uk/recipes


    If it's for calorie control or weight loss, swapping maple syrup, or any other syrup in isn't going to make a tap of difference.


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    #19
    lazeedaisy
    Registered Users Posts: 1,328 ✭✭✭lazeedaisy


    Seamus1964 wrote: »
    Splenda, no calorie sweetener can be used for cooking and baking and measures and pours just like sugar.
    1 cup of Splenda sweetener is equal in sweetness to 1 cup of sugar.

    + 1 " However, many sugar replacements are not particularly healthy or good for your body "

    ughh

    dont go down this route.

    I tried it a few years ago, as himself is a diabetic, the yeuck aftertaste is so awful, i tried all the versions of splenda, even the brown sugar lookalike,

    I rarely bake now, and when i do, i use sugar as its not often we eat that kind of food,

    I use maple syrup sparingly as I cannot abide the taste of honey, for glazes etc, but you really cannot substitute sugar in baking as all chemical replacements are not the same,


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