Baking without sugar can be a challenge for most people looking for quality products that taste delicious as well. There are many sugar substitutes on the market that might be fine for sweetening a beverage but simply don’t perform in more complex recipes. For example aspartame breaks down when heated and other sweeteners don’t add the volume, texture and lovely caramel taste sugar does to baked item. Baking is a chemical reaction that depends on precise combinations of different ingredients so one cannot simply switch the sugar with sweeteners and expect great results.
Many people are hesitant to use artificial sweeteners at all due to conflicting reports in the press on their safety. Some natural alternatives that actually work very well in recipes are brown rice syrup, barley syrup and malt, honey, stevia, sucanat, erythritol, agave nectar, coconut sugar, maple products and molasses. These products provide very different taste profiles and experimenting can lead you to new favorites that don't have the detrimental effect of refined sugars.
Alternative sweeteners can fall into two different types: nutritive and non-nutritive. Many commercial bakers use nutritive sweeteners because they provided the necessary bulk and browning required by the process. These sweeteners have calories and carbohydrates but are not classified as sugars and include glycerin and sorbitol. Non-nutritive sweeteners include aspartame and saccharine which do not contribute calories just taste to products. Sugar alcohols are also a viable option for baking and provide mild sweetness with many of the baking characteristics of sugar itself. Lactitol and maltitol syrup are common sugar alcohols.
The best way to achieve satisfactory results is to try various sweeteners and see the end product. Using recipes already tested can cut down on expensive failures.
Here are a few recipes that do not use sugar and create wonderful consistent results.
Apricot Almond Bars with Chocolate
- 1 cup dried apricots
- ½ cup water
- ¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg white
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup chopped bittersweet chocolate
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Prepare a 7 by 11 pan with butter and flour
- Combine ½ cup apricots with water in small pan and simmer 2 minutes, set aside.
- Chop remaining ½ cup apricots.
- Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Puree cooked apricots and cooking liquid. Add egg, egg white, oil, honey and vanilla extract; process until smooth.
- Add flour mixture, ½ cup chocolate and chopped apricots and pulse until combined.
- Scrape batter into pan and top with almonds.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool.
- Melt remaining chocolate and drizzle over cooled pan. Cut and serve.
Cherry-Almond Cereal Bars
- 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
- ½ chopped almonds
- 3 cups unsweetened puffed grain cereal like kashi
- 2 cups dried cherries
- ¼ cup flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 12 ounces silken tofu, drained
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup canola oil
- 1 cup honey
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp freshly grated lemon zest
Directions:
- Preheat oven 350 degrees F.
- Prepare 15 by 10 pan with non stick spray.
- Spread oats and almonds in pan. Bake until fragrant and golden, 10 minutes.
- Transfer oats and almonds to bowl add puffed cereal, dried cherries, flour and salt. Stir to combine.
- Puree tofu, egg, honey, vanilla and zest until smooth.
- Fold tofu mixture into oat mixture until combined.
- Spread in pan and bake 35-40 minutes.
