Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

Please share your naturally sweetened dessert recipes here :)

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Cookie recipes
 

This poor thread was looking so lonely! I don't usually bake with just honey as the sweetener. In fact, the whole wheat bread I love is about the only thing I use with just honey. But, I'm searching for some recipes and will probably try them because they sound so much healthier!
http://www.ochef.com/796.htm

Honey.Com!
 

Recipes using stevia
 

I haven't tried any of these personally, but I may do so, as DH can't eat anything with much sugar in it...even if the sugar is from honey.
http://cookingwithstevia.com/cgi-bin...cious+Desserts
http://seedman.com/stevrecp.htm
http://www.healthy.net/nutrit/kitche...viarecipes.asp

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

Chocolate thumbprint cookies

· 1 cup walnuts
· 1 cup unbleached white flour (I use pastry flour)
· 3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
· 1/4 cup good quality unsweetened cocoa powder
· 1/8 tsp salt
· 1/2 cup canola oil (I use butter)
· 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
· 2 TB fruit sweetened raspberry or strawberry jam
Preheat oven to 350°F. Finely grind the walnuts in a food processor. Add the flours, the cocoa powder, and the salt. Blend to combine well. Transfer mixture to a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the canola oil and the maple syrup until completely emulsified and thick. Add to the dry ingredients, stirring to combine until all dry ingredients are incorporated. Form dough into walnut size balls. Place on a cookie sheet. Make a thumbprint in each cookie. Fill with about 1/4 tsp jam. Bake for 15 minutes. Cookies will not spread during baking. Cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

Buttermilk chocolate cake – we LOVE THIS – even without frosting

2 ½ C ww pastry flour
¼ C cocoa
½ t salt
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 C buttermilk (or dairyfree milk with 1 T lemon juice – let sit room temp for 10 minutes)
½ C oil (I use butter)
1 C maple syrup
1 T vanilla.

Preheat oven to 375. Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients. Combine and stir well. Pour into oiled or shorteninged cake pans. Bake for 20-30 minutes.

Chocolate frosting

1 bag chocolate chips – grain sweetened or at least semi sweet with less sugar)
a little milk

melt chips. Add a splash of milk. Keep adding milk until desired consistently. Spread on cake while frosting is warm because it will harden as it cools.

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

Carrot Cake with apricot glaze

1 C ww pastry flour
1 C unbleached white flour (I’d use 1 ¼ C ww pastry flour cuz I don’t use unbleached white)
1 T baking powder
1/8 t sea salt
1 t cinnamon
¼ t nutmeg
½ C concentrated fruit sweetener or maple syrup
½ C vegetable oil (I’d use butter)
½ C water
1 C apple or apricot juice
2 eggs
3 large carrots, finely grated
1 T grated lemon peel
1/3 C chopped walnuts
1/3 C raisens or currants

Glaze:
1 T kudzu, arrowroot powder or other thickener (corn starch, tapioca flour, potato flour)
1 C apricot juice or nectar
1 T lemon juice
1 T concentrated fruit sweetener or maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350. Oil a 10 inch pan or 2 round 8 inch cake pans. Stir together flours, baking powder, salt and spices. Whisk togehter sweetener, oil, water, juice and eggs. Add wet ingredients to dry mixture and mix well. Fold in carrots, lemon peel, nuts and raisens. Pour into pans making sure to tap on counter to release any air bubbles. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Remove and let cool

TO make glaze
Dissolve thickener in juice in small pan. Heat on medium stirring constantly until clear and thick (usually about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and add lemon juice and sweetener. Stir well. Spread over top of cake or between layers and on top of layer cake.

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

White cake.

2 C ww pastry flour
1 T baking powder
pinch of salt
1 C milk or non dairy milk
¾ C Maple syrup
½ C mashed banana (about 1 med or 2 small)
1/3 C canola oil
2 t vanilla
2 t apple cider vinegar.

Preheat over to 350. Lighly oil 2 9 inch round cake pans or 1 9 x 13. Place wet ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Stir together dry ingredients. Pour wet into dry and bean well using whire whisk or electric beater until batter is smooth. Pour into pans evenly. Tape pans on countertop to rid batter of any air bockets. Bake until toothpick comes out clean 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Turn out of pans and cool completely. Do not frost until completely cool.

Another white cake
2 ½ C ww pastry flour
2 to 3 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
¼ C corn oil (I use butter :lol - can you see a pattern here :P)
½ C brown rice syrup or maple syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
½ to 2/3 C milk or non dairy milk.

Preheat oven to 350. Oil and flour 9 inch round cake pan or loaf pan. Stir dry ingredients into a boil. Whisk together wet ingredients. Stir wet into dry mixing until smooth – do not overmix. The batter should be thick and spoonable not runny. Add more milk if needed. Spoon into pan. Bake on center rack 40 to 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean. Do not open oven door until cake has baked at least 20 minutes or cake may sink. Cook in pan 10 minutes before turning out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

You can do this with almost any recipe . . .

Peel and freeze ripe bananas. (If you don't have time, you can skip the freezing, but freezing makes them even more sweet). Puree them in a blender or food processor, adding a tablespoon or two of water, if necessary.

You can use the above mixture as a substitue (cup for cup) for sugar in almost any baked good--cakes, cookies, brownies, quick breads. For every cup of sugar that you replace with the banana mixture, add 5-6 tablespoons of flour.

Your recipe will have a banana flavor, but not overpowering. You can use half banana and half honey if you want to decrease the banana flavor. I made chocolate brownies with this mixture (no sugar at all) and my DH likes them better than the regular recipe! It makes everything very moist.

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

Great tip! I'm going to try it!!

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

If you use 2 or 3 frozen bananas, you end up with ice cream. We add a pinch of salt and a dash of vanilla to ours to make plain ice cream, or to use as a base. It doesn't even need any sweetener. From there, you can add strawberries or blueberries, or half an orange, or (our favorite) a little bit of pineapple. We've added a small single-serving can of pineapple tidbits in its own juice, and that was the best one we tried.

We've tried adding chocolate or carob, but it doesn't blend well with the taste of the banana. Almond butter (or almonds pulverized in a coffee grinder) or peanut butter blended in is really good. The nut flavor really complements the banana flavor. I guess that's why peanut butter and banana sandwiches are popular?

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

Peanut butter brownies

1cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg

blend it all together. Spread in an 8x8 pan Bake at 325 until set (about 15-20 minutes). you don't want to over bake these! but they are delicious! :tu

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

granola chews

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1cup coarsly chopped nuts
1/2 teaspoon salt

melt butter and stir in honey. Mix everything else in. Spread in an 8X8 pan and bake at 325 until set. (about 20-25 minutes). I like to let them cool a little while and then shape them into balls.

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

I have a cookbook called Sweet and Natural Baking. All great recipes (cookies, cakes, breads, bars, muffins) sweetened only with fruit juice concentrate. VERY good. Also has some dairy-free and egg-free recipes.

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

Thanks Sarahtar - I just got Sweet and Natural baking and I can't wait to try many of the recipes. They look so yummy :yum I will more than likely start off by substituting maple syrup for the fruit sweetener because I don't have any fruit concentrate but I plan on buying some :tu

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

I just found this thread from the no sugar one - I started looking through the honey stuff and stevia stuff but many of them have milk products and we can't do milk. I may try the peanut butter brownies - that looks yummy. My children are so picky. They won't eat cookies with nuts in them and are not fond of oatmeal cookies. I will look for that sweet and natural cookbook.

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

I just found this thread from the no sugar one - I started looking through the honey stuff and stevia stuff but many of them have milk products and we can't do milk. I may try the peanut butter brownies - that looks yummy. My children are so picky. They won't eat cookies with nuts in them and are not fond of oatmeal cookies. I will look for that sweet and natural cookbook.

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

I've read that ripe bananas work for egg substitues as well.

Believer, vegan milk (i.e., soy, rice, almond) works in recipes calling for milk

Hhhmmm... Maybe I'll try the banana for sugar thing in my vegan chocolate cake

Thanks! :)

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

Peanut butter cookies

1 cup natural, unsweetened chunky peanut butter
1 cup real maple syrup
2 tbls canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt


Preheat oven to 350 and line cookie pans with parhcment paper or oil and flour them.

in a small bowl, whisk together peanut butter, syrup, oil and vanilla until smooth. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and pour in the liquid, stril just until combined. Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and place on the cookie sheets. Mash them flat with a fork in a criss-cross pattern aiming for a cookie that is about 1/2 inch thick. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly crusted over but still soft. Cool on the pan for 2 minute, remove and cool on rack or thick pape.

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

Chocolate chip cookies - vegan

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, ground to a fine meal (optional)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 to 1 cup chocolate pieces
1/2 cup flavorless oil (I use butter or earth balance)
1/2-3/4 cup real maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla or almond extract

heat oven to 350. wisk together wet ingredients in a small bowl. In a large bowl, stir together thoroughly the dry ingredients including the chips. Make a well in the center and pour in the syrup mixture. Stir together until fully incorporated, but try not to overmix. Drop dough by teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on rack.

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

Jodi, you are all over this! Thank you so much for posting these great recipes...the other mamas too.

About the banana puree thing - can you do the same thing with applesauce, or with prune puree? I have heard that prune puree blends so well with and enhances chocolate. :shrug

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

Chocolate brownies


5 tablespoons (1/4 cup--1/2 stick--plus 1 tablespoon) butter
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
9 tablespoons (1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Melt butter over low heat. Stir in brown rice syrup. Stir in the cocoa a little at a time, whisking in each addition until blended. Remove from heat and cool about 15 minutes. Blend in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and salt. Stir in flour a little at a time. Add nuts and stir well. Spread batter into a greased 8x8-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool in the pan and cut into squares.

I am going to try this using maple instead of rice syrup I think :think

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

ooooooh i'm getting hungry!!

why use pastry flour and not ap flour?

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

oooh....bump*bump*

I found a few naturally sweetened desserts in the back of my what to expect books, it was the only good thing in there....

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

:giggle That's the way I felt about those books, too...

TrinMama, I think the whole-wheat pastry flour is used to give the baked goods a whole-grain base without the heavy coarseness of regular whole-grain flours. Is that right Sonshine Mama? That's why I use them anyway!

And just a tip on flour since I am on the subject, I use King Arthur's white whole wheat in place of ap flour - you can't tell the difference taste-wise and it is whole-grain. It's not organic though.

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

All purpose flour is bleached and has the bran removed. It's not healthy as all the good stuff is removed.
I think Unbleached flour has all or most of the bran removed but is not bleached. It's not whole grain but it doesn't have the nasty bleach in it.

I use almost entirely whole wheat pastry flour for my baking as
1 it is still whole grain and
2 has a smooth texture. .

For a lot of people when they first give up all purpose flour, they go to unbleached first and slowly move to ww pastry flour to avoid the "shock" of whole wheat cookies. We took the plunge before we even knew about unbleached flour and have been fine. But we aren't perfect. I have taken to using unbleached flour for pie crusts and brownies. The rest of the stuff we stick with ww pastry flour :)

HTH!

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

thanks for pastry flour info! :)

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

I went on that flour journey, too! I went from unbleached ap to whole wheat, found it too coarse, went to whole wheat pastry flour, then found King Arthur's white whole wheat and never looked back. KA is not pastry flour.

Isn't it silly that I posted my personal flour journey? ha ha :giggle

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

where can you find ww pastry flour???

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

This is one of my recipes for chocolate chip oatmeal raisin cookies (vegan). I like to throw things together and try different combinations, so feel free to modify this recipe. It's fun! Maybe sometime I'll come back and post more variations. ;)

I made this recipe tonight:

Mix these dry ingredients in large bowl:
2 1/2 cups spelt flour (can use whole wheat)
3 tablespoons arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup ground flaxseeds

Mix wet ingredients in smaller bowl:
1 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vinegar (I used rice vinegar) (you can use vanilla instead LOL -- I was just out of it so I tried the vinegar)
1/2 cup rice milk

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix them together.

Then add and stir in the following three ingredients:

1 cup old fashioned oatmeal
1 cup chocolate chips (we use semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips)
1 cup raisins

I grease my cookie sheet and put the dough on cookie sheet by teaspoonfuls (I guess it's a teaspoon -- I have a neat scoop thingy that I think is from Pampered Chef that makes it easy). I flatten them a little. Then bake in the oven for approximately 10 minutes at 350 degrees. My oven is a little hot, so keep that in mind. Don't over cook. :) It makes about 26 cookies. :)

They are really yummy (at least we think so :giggle). :yum

Please let me know if you try this recipe. I'd love to have feedback regarding it. I'm trying to "perfect" my recipe. :grin

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

Jeri, that sounds DELICIOUS. Yummy. . .I will let you know when I try it :grin We play with our recipes too ;) DH has some "secret" about our chocolate chip cookies that he won't tell me :giggle And often I sub earth balance for oil :yum it really improves the buttery taste

Hmm. . . 8am and I already am craving cookies :shifty

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

If we get strawberries that are not sweet, I will slice them, and add a little honey and stir. Not really a recipe, but I figure adding honey to them is better than regular sugar.

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

Thanks ladies! I don't have ANY tip, but will certainly try yours :clap Bump!!!!

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

Is there any way to make frosting without sugar? sounds impossible :think I found food dye free sprinkles :tu but I want to make little cupcakes for dd's b-day :)

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

Well, let's see...how do you feel about artificial sweeteners? honey? maple syrup? stevia? fruit concentrate?

You could cream whipped cream and cream cheese and add the sweetener of your choice - this might be really good with strawberry concentrate or other fruit concentrate. :yum Just brainstorming here...

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

absolutely no artificial sweeteners :no that wouldnt be naturally sweetened would it :giggle we do honey, and maple syrup, and we also use sucanat, but it wouldnt make a very pretty frosting ;) I dont really know what fruit concentrate is :) yeah, i guess we can do whipped cream :) :tu

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

Doh! (can't find the forehead-smacking emoticon right now). :giggle I don't do artificial sweeteners either, but I forgot that was the title of the thread! :rolleyes

I think you can get fruit concentrates not just as frozen juice but bottled separately - anyone else ever used them? I am not sure. :think If you use honey or maple syrup, you could do a yummy maple cream using whipped cream and egg whites. Stevia might work well in this application too, as it does best in uncooked stuff in my experience. I love stevia for sweetening tea and such, but I am not familiar with it in baking.

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

I don't like refined sugar free frosting except chocolate. I have tried several recipes but all of them have to be dairy free so I suppose you could have more flexibility with dairy :shrug

For chocolate frosting, I use one bag malt sweetened chocolate milk and 1 C dairy free milk. Melt together and let cool until it's spreadable. VERY VERY yummy :yum but it does get crunchy when dry just FYI !

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

I was looking through the cookbook my sister got me for Christmas - LLL's Whole Foods for the Whole Family - and it has at least one frosting recipe sweetened with honey. Do you want it?

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

sure!