best way to substitute sugar

[fairolivia]

Hi I'm new to baking and would love to start substituting sugar for something healthier. I use organic sugar but it's a bit grainy and tends to dry things out. I would love to use honey or something else but I'm not sure exactly the how to get the best results. What do you pros :) think is the healthiest and/or best substitute?

[HomeWithMyBabies]

I'm not a pro, but I have been using honey and it seems to work well. I just made some zucchini bread this afternoon and instead of sugar used honey. I used about the same amount of honey as I would sugar.

I'm going to try pure maple syrup as a substitute next for some cookies ds likes.

[fairolivia]

That sounds easy enough! :lol Yummy... maple syrup! Where do you get your recipes from? I tend to use the internet, a habit from living abroad (allrecipes.com mostly). It's not health conscience but I just modify. Do you have book or a site or did you learn as you go?

[HomeWithMyBabies]

I am winging it. :giggle I really like http://www.recipezaar.com because you can have your own (free) cookbook and it's easy as you go through the recipes to just add stuff to your recipe collection. I look specifically for the vegetarian/vegan recipes even though we're not vegan, they are often the best dairy free recipes (ds1 can't have dairy).

My dad gave us some blue agave nector as use a sugar substitute, because he knows I'm trying to get away from corn syrup, but I have to look into that before I use it. I remember hearing something about it that bothered me but I don't remember what it was, and haven't researched it on my own yet.

[fairolivia]

Thanks I'll have check that site out.

[HomeWithMyBabies]

Update on the zucchini bread: Dh told me it could use a bit more sugar! :lol I laughed and told him I wasn't surprised since there wasn't any. My oldest loves it, the two loaves are almost gone now. :giggle

[Emerald Orchid]

You can usually cut down 1/3 to 1/2 of the sugar a recipe calls for and have the same results.

You can use fructose, cut down the amount by 1/3.

You can also experiment with stevia, but it's hard to get good results without a recipe book, because the proportions are so hugely different.

[erh384]

My dad gave us some blue agave nector as use a sugar substitute, because he knows I'm trying to get away from corn syrup, but I have to look into that before I use it. I remember hearing something about it that bothered me but I don't remember what it was, and haven't researched it on my own yet.


I think there were some old posts on here about agave possibly causing miscarriage.... but I think it was REALLY large amounts.

[HummusDip]

We do blue agave and love it. :heart Also you can sub with sucucant. Although I prefer to do half sucucant and half either sugar, honey, or agave because I don't feel the sucucant is sweet enough. :)