Baking with Less Sugar Read Online Free PDF

brand, still confer significant nutrients, though they are not as nutrition dense as blackstrap.
    4. Apple juice and grape juice concentrates. When I was buying “fruit-only spread” for our toast at home in an effort to reduce our personal sugar consumption, I noticed that the ingredients were always fruit and then apple and grape juice concentrates. I really couldn’t tell the difference and neither could Christopher; in fact we both preferred these to the full-sugar versions because the flavors of the fruit really came through. With that in mind, I reduced apple juice and grape juice concentrates until they became thick and syrupy and used them to sweeten a host of desserts with great success.
    5. Vanilla extract and vanilla beans. My favorite flavor by far, vanilla immediately makes your mouth and nose think “sweet” when it’s included in a dessert. Vanilla beans are expensive but worth it; their tiny seeds infuse everything they are mixed into with an unmistakable heady perfume. Store them tightly wrapped in a cool, dark place. We also use a lot of vanilla extract in our baking. It’s a less expensive, albeit less potent, way of adding vanilla flavor to a dessert. Make sure to get pure, not artificial, extract and store it in a cool, dark cabinet.
    6. Almond extract. Like vanilla extract, a trace of almond extract flavoring in a pastry can prime your taste buds to sweetness. Adding a little bit to certain desserts will give you a sense of sweetness without having to use sugar. It is strong, so use it sparingly. I add it to any dessert that has almonds in it, and I also like it with stone fruit desserts. The pit of a stone fruit—apricots, peaches, cherries, nectarines—has a faintly almond taste if you crack it open, and the flavor of the almond extract goes particularly well with these fruits.
    7. Cinnamon and similar spices. When you get a whiff of cinnamon, instantly you can “taste” sweetness in your head. Cinnamon brings a heady, gentle sweetness to baked goods and, when used in moderation, can lead your taste buds to think something is sweeter than it really is. I’ve been using pinches of ground cinnamon in my home baking and eating for years; Christopher’s daily oatmeal has a generous grating of cinnamon stick, and he’s never once missed the sugar in his breakfast. In addition to cinnamon, other spices like nutmeg, allspice, mace, cardamom, and ground ginger all read as sweet to your taste buds, so use these liberally in your quest for lower-sugar baked goods. For best flavor, buy cinnamon sticks and whole nutmeg, and use a Microplane to grind to order. You’ll get infinitely more of a flavor boost than with preground dried spices.
    8. Orange juice and pineapple juice concentrates. These juice concentrates make a good, tangy, bright source of sweetness for sorbets, ice creams, and baked goods such as pound cakes and cookies. They are not quite as versatile as apple and grape juice concentrates, which have less of an acidic component to them, but they are still a valuable sweetener in your no-sugar baking list of ingredients.
    9. Dates. Learning to bake with dates was a revelation for me. I’ve tasted dates wrapped in bacon and almonds at fancy dinner parties, and I’ve had date nut breads and sticky toffee puddings made with dates. But never did I think of them as such a versatile sweetener in pastries. I use plump, soft Medjool dates in my baking; if you don’t have a good source for these, you can substitute another type of date. Because of the size variations in different dates, be sure you measure the amount you use in these recipes by volume or weight. Dates have a skin that gets tough and leathery with age. Before using them I soak them in some hot water and a little baking soda, which softens and dissolves the skin. Store dates in an airtight containerat cool room temperature for up to 6 months or in the refrigerator for up to 1