My partner does not eat any refined sugars. Nothing. Not in sauces, dressings, desserts, packaged doo-dads, or beverages. He eats only maple syrup/sugar, honey, fructose, stevia (though he does not like fructose or stevia, and I wholeheartedly agree), brown rice syrup, etc. Now, I worked in a vegan/sugar-free/wheat-free bakery for a while, and once in a while something turned out really nicely. But for the most part, things tasted like cardboard.
So the project for this year has been adapting my style of baking to his dietary requirements. Nearly everything I've baked since last autumn has been sans sucre. What have I learned?
a) maple sugar melts out very easily;
b) so does fructose;
c) both maple and honey burn very easily;
d) that I actually like baking this way a bit more;
e) that I feel healthier as a result;
f) that baking without sugar challenges me to push my limits more.
Lately, nearly everything I've made has been not only sugar-free, but gluten-free as well. And since I refuse to eat cardboard-y health food, I make sure it tastes as much like the traditional recipe as possible.
Plus, I get the benefit of buying my organic maple sugar directly from the man who grows and taps the trees. What more could I want?
So, in future, be prepared for a bit more 'alternative' baking. And, as I'm now a 'Daring Baker', prepare for some substitutions. I couldn't possibly eat all those desserts by myself, so I'll have to tailor them a BIT.
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