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!

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

Actually, there are a bunch - they use various natural sweeteners - I will type all that I have time to!

GOlden Nugget Icing

1 cup crushed pineapple (unsweetened)
8 0z soft cream cheese
1/2 c. finely chopped nuts

Drain pineapple and save liquid; mix drained p-apple with c.cheese. Add enough of the juice to make it the consistency you like. Sprinkle with nuts after frosting.

Orange-Coconut Icing

1 TB arrowroot
6 oz. frozen oj concentrate (thawed)
1 c. unsweetened shredded coconut

Blend arrowroot and oj conc. in pan - cook until thickened. Stir constantly. Then take it off the heat and stir until it is slightly cool. Pour over cake or loaf then sprinkle with coconut. Dip cupcakes or muffins.
This is more of a glaze. And I bet you could leave off the coconut and it would still be yummy.

Honey Frosting

1/3 c honey
2-4 egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar
salt to taste
1 tsp vanilla or flavor of choice

Put everything in mixing bowl and combine. Beat at high speed until fluffy.


Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese softened
1/2 c butter, soft
2-4 TB honey
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c chopped pecans

Cream butter and c-cheese until fluffy. Beat in honey according to your taste. Add vanilla and the pecans and mix.

Powdered Milk Frosting

1/4 c. soft butter (can increase amount for a smoother frosting)
1/4 c honey or maple syrup
2-3TB milk
1 TB vanilla or other flavor
2/3 to 1 c instant dry milk powder (finally! a recipe that calls for instant MP!!)

Beat butter and honey until creamed; add milk and vanilla, then milk powder. Continue beating until it is fluffy. Adjust consistency with milk and/or milk powder.

I love this cookbook!!!!

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

wow! thank you SO much!!! :tu :hug

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

You're welcome! I would like to try that last one, the powdered milk one. It sounds yummy. If you try any of them, let me know how they turn out!

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

my absolutely favorite "desserts" are either fruit salads or smoothies (the kids like the smoothies... anything with banana).

tonight I made a pineapple, strawberry, blueberry salad and it was divine. I sweetened it a little with saccharine, but you could use more pineapple juice (or another juice not from concentrate... most juices from concentrate have been adulterated with sugar... welch's grape juice is the only one I know that is ok... apple juice is the worst culprit).

Some yogurt (plain... i make mine) with this would be heavenly. I usually make fruit smoothies with yogurt, but tomorrow morning I'll probably just add the yogurt to my fruit and yum!

Re: Naturally Sweetened Desserts
 

I made these a couple days ago and they were so yummy! :yum I used fresh ground soft white flour and I used canola oil and some palm oil shortening and I didn't use walnuts. They are all gone! Even the ones that I rolled the dough into balls and froze for a later time, um, yeah, the very next day! :O I figured there wasn't much more sugar than in a plate of pancakes. (whatever helps me to not feel guilty after eating four at a time! :giggle)
I am going to try Jeri's next, I just need some arrowroot. :yes