Adjusting Recipes When Using Artificial Sweeteners

If you have banished table sugar from your cupboards for health reasons but still want to churn out baked goods and pastries in your kitchen, replacing it with fruit juice, honey, or other sweeteners may not do your blood sugar any special favors. If you are a diabetic or having a diabetic over for dinner and dessert, don’t be misled by the popular misconception that fruit juice and honey are good substitutes for sugar.

A much better, and genuinely sugar-free, solution is to replace table sugar with artificial sweeteners. You can experiment with different kinds. For example, one brand may truly sweeten your pastry, but may not taste so good when exposed to 350-degree heat. Another brand may do just as well, but once refrigerated it does not retain its original taste. Some foods with sweeteners require refrigeration while others does not. These are the things you have to think about when using sweeteners. It is important to try different kinds and see which ones work with certain recipes. For example, some bakers say that saccharine is ideal for baking, but has a bitter aftertaste. Aspartame has no aftertaste but it no longer tastes sweet when heated. You’ll need to adjust your recipes when using it as a replacement for table sugar.

Recipe Adjustments

One way to adjust your recipes when using sweeteners is to visit the web site of the product’s manufacturer. Some of them post the equivalents you need to know. Another way is to look at some recipe books written specifically for diabetic and heart patients. The recipes provide how much sweetener you should use if the recipe, for example, calls for 1-1/3 cups sugar. Still another way is to ask friends or family who use sweeteners how they adjust the recipes. And then of course, there’s the old and reliable way of trial and error.

Necessity is the mother of invention, so the saying goes, and there is plenty of experimenting to do with artificial sweeteners! Since there are many different varieties, each with different effects, it’s a good idea to jot down the adjustments you’ve made and see which ones make the recipes a 100% success. The problem with replacing table sugar with sweeteners is that granulated sugar can brown easily, tenderize and retain moisture wheras sweeteners cannot.

If you are using granular sucralose, which is also known as Splenda, you are in luck because it is one sweetener where you do not need to adjust your recipes that call for sugar. If the recipe calls for 2 cups sugar, you also use 2 cups sucralose! Sucralose tends to bake faster, so if the recipe says “bake for 40 minutes”, you may want to check for doneness after 25-30 minutes. Do not leave your cake in the oven and go off somewhere else. You need to be vigilant, at least for the first time.

Saccharine is different. It is about 300-600 times sweeter than sugar (others say it is much sweeter than that) so the manufacturer recommends using less. For example, if the recipe calls for ¼ cup sugar, use 6 packets of saccharine (1 gram each). Saccharine by the way is known as Sweet and Low®.
One distinct advantage of using sweeteners is you can reduce the number of calories of any given recipe. However, do not let the calorie count be your priority because you want your cake or pastry to come out well while tasting delicious. Since not all sweeteners do the same job, you will want to do the replacement gradually. For example, you can replace half of the sugar with the sweetener of your choice, but if your cake or pastry does not turn brown or is too heavy, you can increase the amount of sugar vis-a-vis the amount of the sweetener.

Sugar, much as we like to avoid it for health reasons, is a versatile ingredient. It not only sweetens our pastries and baked goods, it does other things as well such as provides a nice brown color, retains moisture and produces fluffier cakes and pastries. For the sake of taste and practicality, you cannot completely replace sugar. A good method – and most people do this – is to reduce the amount of table or granulated sugar to half and then use sweetener for the remaining half.

The above are just guidelines. You can always experiment until you hit the right blend. If this is the first time you are using artificial sweeteners, you should try as many brands as possible and see which ones are appropriate for different recipe types. You may find that one sweetener is perfect for cookies with chocolate, or another is perfect for pies that go into the oven, and another is ideal for brownies or muffins.

Be prepared to have a few failed recipes in the beginning. This is normal. Using sweeteners is a tricky exercise but as with most things, practice makes perfect!