Since we’re in the middle of our series on sweeteners, we thought we would share some more flavorful nutritive sweetener options, including ways to use less of nutritive sweeteners in some recipes and how to otherwise enhance the perception of sweetness in a recipe. (Colors of Maple Syrup with lighter shades at the start of the sugar maple sap harvest season and darkening towards the end of the “sugaring” season in the state of NH image courtesy of mejones via rgbstock.com).
First, some general rules of thumb to keep in mind.
In many bar cookies and quick breads, you can cut back to using only 3/4 of or perhaps even 2/3 of the amount of granulated white sugar called for in the recipe and often still have an acceptable product.
Note that it is not suggested to use this approach of reducing granulated white sugar content in yeast bread doughs where a limited amount of sugar is typically used purely as a food source for the yeast, although for any filling or icing it may be possible to use less added sugar or a fruit based option with no added sugar instead.
When cutting back on granulated white sugar content, try using some flavoring extract such as almond, vanilla, lemon, or orange if the recipe doesn’t already call for a flavoring extract to enhance product sweetness perception.
Consider if the recipe would be appropriate for adding a spice which can intensify the perception of sweetness in a recipe. Possibilities to consider include ground forms of allspice, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger +/or nutmeg.
As a general rule when dealing with nutritive sweeteners in cooking and baking, replace liquids with liquids and granular forms with other granular forms UNLESS you desire to alter the texture of the original product through making a substitution.
Some examples of nutritive sweetener terms (besides white granulated sugar) that you might find on ingredient labels anywhere, including in summer Farmers Markets and regular retail stores include, but are not limited to: agave syrup (has a very high fructose content); anhydrous dextrose; apple juice concentrate; barley malt; brown rice syrup; brown sugar; coconut palm sugar aka coconut sugar or palm sugar; concentrated fruit juice sweeteners; corn sweetener; corn syrup; corn syrup solids; crystal dextrose; dextrin; dextrose; evaporated cane juice; fructose; fructose sweetener; galactose (from lactose); glucose; grape juice concentrate; high fructose corn syrup (HFCS); honey; hydrogenated starch hydrolysates (HCH); icing sugar; invert sugar; lactose; levulose; liquid fructose; maltodextrins; malt syrup; maltose; maple syrup; molasses; orange juice concentrate; pancake syrup; palm sugar; powdered sugar aka 10X sugar or baker’s sugar; raw sugar; simple sugar; sucrose or superfine sugar (the latter is used in making alcoholic beverages by bartenders), tagatose (found in nature and also can be manufactured from lactose); & turbinado sugar.
Only some of those nutritive sweetener options are available to those who cook or bake at home as potential alternatives to sometimes replace granulated white sugar in their kitchens.
Let’s mention some of them.
- Agave syrup is perceived by some persons to be up to 125% sweeter than sugar. Substitute 3/4 cup of agave for each cup of white granulated sugar in a recipe and usually reduce a liquid in the recipe by 25-30% for each 3/4 cup of agave used, and finally add a pinch of baking soda which helps to neutralize any acid in the agave syrup. In other cases, it has been reported that consumers successfully replaced sugar by agave using a 1:1 ratio. It is suggested to decrease oven temperature by 25 degrees Fahrenheit and then bake the product a little longer.
- Substitute 3/4 cup of honey for each cup of white granulated sugar in a recipe and usually reduce a liquid in the recipe by 1/4 cup for each 3/4 cup of honey used and finally add a pinch of baking soda which helps to neutralize any acid in the honey. Honey will make baked goods chewier, darker, and moister. Reduce oven temperature by 25 degrees Fahrenheit when making this type of substitution. Of course, when it comes to infants, honey should not be used in any recipe or otherwise fed to any infant (baby 12 months of age or less) as the concern for potential botulism for that high risk group is very real.
- Fruit juice concentrates can be substituted for white granulated sugar in a similar ratio to either honey or maple syrup, depending upon the concentrate.
- Substitute 3/4 cup of real maple syrup (flavorful and more colorful Grade B) for each cup of white granulated sugar. Also add in a pinch of baking soda and reduce a liquid in the recipe by 3 Tbsp. for each 3/4 cup of maple syrup used.
- Maple sugar is granular with additional flavor and it is suggested to substitute 1/2 cup of maple sugar for each 1 cup of granulated white sugar.
- Molasses is very concentrated with intense additional flavor and is NOT suitable for substitution for white granulated sugar in all recipes. It is suggested to replace no more than half of all the sugar in a recipe with molasses. Substitute 1.33 cups of molasses plus 1 tsp baking soda for 1 cup of granulated white sugar, then reduce a liquid in the recipe by 1/3 cup for each 1.33 cups of molasses used. Also reduce the oven temperature for baking by 25 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Light brown sugar is more flavorful than granulated white sugar, and firmly packed light brown sugar can be substituted cup-for-cup for white granulated sugar in baked goods such as bar cookies and quick breads, however, the texture of the baked good item will change as it will become chewier, darker and the volume of the baked good will be reduced.
- Usually “no sugar added” natural applesauce is substituted for fat in many recipes where feasible, but sometimes it can be seen as a substitute for white granulated sugar. Replace half the fat content with equal proportions of applesauce if trying to reduce the fat content of the baked good item; while if using applesauce to replace sugar in a recipe, use a 1:1 ratio. Using applesauce in place of sugar +/or fat will cause the baked good item to be denser, moister, and sweeter.
The option is always yours to consider various ways by which to reduce your nutritive sweetener intake and that of the items that come out of your kitchen which can also affect the sugar intake of your family and friends.
Part 2 of 2 of our blog series will address more specific details about nutritive sweeteners and at that time we’ll post more specifics about each of the nonnutritive sweeteners in a free gift download available to fans of our Facebook page.