Sugar Substitutes

[Rena]

Umpa -- Do you use strictly Xylitol for baking and Stevia for sweetening things like coffee or tea? I've been using Xylitol to bake with, but I'm really not too fond of the taste. Does it matter if you use less than required or will that mess up most recipes regarding the dry ingredients? Is there something besides Xylitol that you'd recommend? It seems to upset my stomach like Malitol, even in small doses.

[umpa]

Yes Rena. I have used stevia for baking too,like with cheesecakes.There are liquid sweeteners made from stevia.My daughter Jen likes the concentrated Stevia,but with that its like 1/8 teaspoon replaces a 1/4 cup.These are the only natural sweeteners.The stevia does not cause any tummy trouble.There are also equal,splenda  ,sugar twin and other artificial sweeteners but I have never gotten comfortable using them.I need all natural . As far as the bulk in your recipes it depends on the other ingredients.Egg Whites are a great filler for bulk too.my guess is you are just using too much.But post a recipe if you need me to redo it for you with less sweetener

[Rena]

Thanks for your reply, Umpa.

I bought some baking Splenda with fiber, which according to the label, is 0 carbs. I'd never seen this kind before. So, I made some Beanit Butter cookies with it, and they taste just fine. Except I used IM Healthy 1-carb soynut butter instead, but Soynut Butter cookies just sounds funny. 

[umpa]

They added fiber to splenda?

[Rena]

They added fiber to splenda?

There's the regular kind and then this newer one I found -- http://www.splenda.com/essentials?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=splenda&utm_campaign=Brand

It says 1 carb plus 1 fiber, so I'm guessing it's 0 net carbs. I don't do a lot of baking, but since the Xylitol was upsetting my stomach, I thought I'd give it a try. I made cookies with it.

[umpa]

Its one carb per packet according to their website.

[Rena]

Yeah, that's weird because I didn't buy the packets, but the larger bag. It reads differently. Maybe it's a different texture? The packets say 2 carbs plus 1 fiber, but the loose says 1 carb plus 1 fiber. Oh well. I don't use it all that often anyway. I'd be more concerned if I used it for coffee, but I rarely use it that way anymore.

[umpa]

It irritates me though because how could what they put in the packets be different then what s in the bags.

[Rena]

I don't know, but I did notice the big bag says "granulated" -- could that be it?

[umpa]

This is from Doug's research.
Based on my research here's the skinny on Splenda;

There are 24 grams of carbohydrate in a cup of Splenda. The Splenda package lists less than 1 gram carbs per serving. A "serving" is 1 teaspoon, and contains roughly 0.5 grams of carbohydrate. The federal government allows food processors to round down any carb count of 0.5 grams per serving or less to "0 grams." so they can list their product as a "carb-free" product!

However, what is carb-free in theory is not carb-free in practice, and that 0.5 grams OF carbohydrate per teaspoon figure means that 1 tablespoon has 1.5 grams of carbohydrates, and 1 cup (16 tablespoons) has 24 grams of carbohydrates.

[Rena]

Are you talking about the newer one with fiber, or just the regular Splenda?

Hmmm, even so ... I only used a half cup, which would be 12 carbs. Divide that by the number of cookies I made (24) and it's still about .5 net carbs. That is not including the egg and the type of peanut butter I used. Even so, it's still better than an Oreo.

[umpa]

Thats the original.Packets and bag.I will tell doug about the fiber one and he can do some research for you They are all better than sugar!Oreos hhmmmm???  Thats one we haven't done.

[Rena]

Thats the original.Packets and bag.I will tell doug about the fiber one and he can do some research for you They are all better than sugar!Oreos hhmmmm???  Thats one we haven't done.

Hmmm ... just yesterday I saw a recipe online for homemade Oreos. They looked good.

[umpa]

Post it in ask umpa and I will take a look.I am working on the new cookbook.Yesterday I made gingerbread cupcakes with fresh ginger and red velvet frosting.They are so good!!!