Baking with Stevia

[Guest guest]

Recent dental woes (and a whopping bill) have convinced my DH that we will never

eat sugar again! Not that we eat alot of it, but with autumn comes Halloween,

both our birthdays (a week apart!), Thanksgiving then we're on a roll to

Christmas. So it seems we do consume more sugary trats this time of year....

 

We bought some stevia at our favorite food co-op and after some online research,

I tackled all our favorite Thanksgiving recipes replacing sugar with stevia.

Things went well until the replacing the 'bulk' of sugar part. Blame my feeling

rushed, or perhaps my eyeglasses needing repair - but the 1/3 cup applesauce,

fruit juice or water got translated to 1 cup in my brain!

 

My favorite mincemeat cookies - well, mincemeat is mincemeat and I will not

waste it! The pie had different directions (phew!) The cranberry orange bread

isn't so bad - after you toast it well (ie dry it out...) Meghan was so upset

with her peanut butter cookies that she made a 2nd batch. Why I ever thought

I'd have to replace the bulk in chocolate pudding is beyond me - chocolate

smoothies anyone?!

 

Cyndy in GA

[Guest guest]

So is the taste comparable to sugar? I'm interested... if I could replace my

sugar with a lower calorie substance... I could probably lose 10 pounds!

 

 

Audrey

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

No, I wouldn't say comparable. It has a different taste that will take getting

used to. Stevia is 100's of times sweeter than sugar so you need only a 1/2

teaspoon in a pie (for example). I do use stevia extract in my evening tea and

only use 1/32th of a teaspoon. The recipes I made I used 1/2 teaspoon and then

added the bulking agent (in my case H2O) but added too much. When Meg remade her

pb cookies, she did roll them in sugar before flattening them with the fork.

Some of the recipes I've researched use a combination of sugar and stevia.

 

Too early to tell if I'll lose any weight.

Cyndy

[Guest guest]

I can't say I've baked with stevia, but I use it to sweeten almost everything

" sweet " that I eat.  I've gotten used to it and now the caloric sweeteners

(sugar, syrups, honey) all seem to have an " aftertaste " to me.  My husband

disagrees and says the STEVIA gives him a funny after-taste.  I'd say just try

it by purchasing as small an amount of stevia as you can and if you like it, add

it to your " must-haves " when you do your shopping.

 

It's good to start with a VERY small amount to try for the first few times. 

Less than you think, and then, maybe even less than that--stevia is TERRIBLY

strong as a sweetener.

If you look for it, it can be purchased some places " in the raw " (just as the

ground, dried stevia plant leaves)...I had some once.  It reminds me of rubbed

sage herb with pure saccarine or something mixed in.  It has a strong, herbal

flavor, IMHO.

 

On the other hand, the stevia as a liquid or a powder is very easy to use and

that's what I have now.  Sometimes, the powder is mixed in with a filler (like

in the small, individual packets).  If you are used to having the stevia/filler

to use, it's better to stick with one kind, as another kind may be stronger or

less strong, depending on if it has more or less filler.

 

I highly recommend using stevia.  For some people it does take a bit of getting

used to.

I like it and wouldn't switch back to sugar now that I've found stevia.

 

Good wishes to you!

--Laura B., in Illinois

 

Re: Baking with Stevia

   

 

So is the taste comparable to sugar? I'm interested... if I could replace my

sugar with a lower calorie substance... I could probably lose 10 pounds!

 

 

Audrey