Sugar!

http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/low-sugar-baking-tips.htm


Low-Sugar Baking Tips

by the Editors of Easy Home Cooking Magazine

http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/low-sugar-baking-tips.htm

Reducing sugar intake is one of the most difficult aspects of taking off and keeping off weight. But the following low-sugar baking tips can help you stay on a successful plan.

We have a love-hate relationship with sugar. We love the homey feeling sugar gives but hate its effect on our bodies. It drastically improves the taste of many dishes, and yet it can mound on the pounds and cheat us of valuable and necessary nutrients. Sugar is such an integral part of our lives that to cut it out removes much of the pleasure of eating.

However, it doesn't have to be that way. By using common sense and a few of the following tips, you can enjoy sugar and avoid its dark side. Sugar is a carbohydrate, and research studies show that carbohydrate in the form of sugars does not raise blood sugar levels more rapidly than other types of carbohydrates. The total amount of carbs eaten is important, not the source.

A major problem with sugar consumption is that baked goods -- especially commercial ones -- are often high in fat, carbohydrates, and calories. Even the low-fat and fat-free versions are high in carbs (sugar) to compensate for the lack of fat, which gives flavor. These large amounts of sugar provide empty calories with little or no vitamins and minerals. It's okay to use sugar in moderation, but use it wisely. In other words, incorporate sugars that contain some nutritional value. Natural sugars -- those naturally a part of food, such as fructose in fruit or lactose in milk -- give you carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. Cutting back on the amount of granulated sugar in your recipes and sometimes adding sweetness by using sugar substitutes will help control the carbohydrate count as well.

When it comes to baking, however, that "non-nutritious" granulated sugar is very important. It not only provides flavor, but affects volume, moisture, texture, and color as well. When you bake, substituting other ingredients for sugar can cause problems. Even when using small amounts of granulated sugar in combination with sugar substitutes, it's the combination of other ingredients that will create the successful results larger amounts of sugar normally achieve. The cooking properties of sugar substitutes are different than those of sugar, so substitutes work best in recipes where sugar is used primarily for sweetening. To get the most natural-tasting sweetness from sugar substitutes, use them on cold items -- over fruits and cereals, in lemonade and iced tea -- or after removing a cooked item from the heat. Prolonged cooking at high heat can destroy some sweetness and produce an unpleasant aftertaste. Try using half sugar substitute and half granulated sugar when baking your favorite recipes.

Following are tips on adding flavor, volume, sweetness, color, and moistness to baked goods made with reduced sugar, sugar substitutes, or a combination of sugar and sugar substitutes.


snip

instead of TWO cups of sugar, I only used ONE. The "juice" is slightly more tart than usual, but still has plenty of sweet to it. Can I feel smugly satisfied now??