#8 - Sweet News for the Holidays
Have you ever looked at a recipe and thought, "that recipe is full of sugar!" Your next thought may be, "how do I cut some of the sugar out of the recipe and still have it taste good?"
Well, I got good news! You can reduce sugar in some recipes and still make them taste good. However, be realistic because in some recipes, you won't be able to reduce the sugar. If this is the case, enjoy a smaller serving of your favorite dessert. It's the holidays, and it is a time to enjoy the foods we love without guilt. So, if you can't change the recipe, it's ok. Think about other ways to balance those calories and move on with your healthy habits at your next meal.
Let's start by knowing alternative names of sugars in recipes; these include light & dark brown sugar, molasses, honey, maple or corn syrup, golden syrup, and confectioners' sugar. Sugar is unhealthy because it has no nutritional value and contains an abundance of calories in a small amount (we call this calorically dense). Think of it this way, every teaspoon of sugar (4 grams on the Nutrition Facts label) provides 16 empty calories.
Why is sugar needed in recipes? I did some research, and sugar is required in recipes because it gives baked goods flavor, color, and texture. So, cutting out too much can affect your product, making it bland, drier, or crumbly.
Have a chocolate cake or brownie recipe and are thinking about reducing sugar? Chocolate recipes are one of the few that need sugar because it helps to balance out the bitterness of the cocoa. You may consider making other substitutions for those recipes.
Sweet swaps:
Try substituting in certain recipes unsweetened dried fruit for chocolate chips.
Using spices and extracts to enhance flavor - cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, pumpkin spice, or extracts like vanilla, almond, mint, orange, or lemon.
If you prefer using artificial sweeteners there are many on the market for use in recipes. It is best to follow the substitution instructions on the back of the package because the modification depends on the artificial sweetener. Some will tell you to replace no more than a third of the sugar with an artificial sweetener, and others say one half a cup for every one cup sugar.
The bottom line is you need to be mindful of portions no matter if you decide to stick with the original recipe or make healthier substitutions, because they both contain calories.
Need a recipe that has decreased sugar? Bake these Healthier Black Bottom Cupcakes!
Photo credit: Unsplashed/Deborah Rainford