I have been completely off sugar for over two months now and I decided it was time to start experimenting in the kitchen so that we can eat more than meat and vegetables! Since we had a couple of cooler days in a row here, I was feeling a bit of fall in the air (never mind that it will be well over 90 again tomorrow...) so I decided to start with Pumpkin Muffins.
I searched online for sugar-free recipes, and found some, but they are just not right. I decided that I have enough experience in the kitchen to tweak these recipes, and this is what I got. They were okay, but the flavor didn't come through enough. But I will keep working and trying, because they were pretty good and it was so nice to eat a baked good again! And aren't they pretty??
9 comments:
so i'm in nebraska right now and there is a hippy coffee shop across the street that i go to in the morning. they sell vegan muffins that i shyed away from at first, but decided to try one the other day. i think vegans don't eat any animal products including eggs and butter, so i thought that made it seem really weird. anyway, i've tried two flavors (almond and hempseed) and they are absolutely fantastic! i have no idea how they do it, but they have the best texture. moist and somewhat dense. anyway, they have sugar in them, but your post made think of this cause if they can make such a great muffin with no butter or eggs, there is sure to be a way to make great baked goods with no sugar.
wow!!!! they look totally FABULOUS! yeah, i'm jumping up and down and all giddy.
I tried a new one today - applesauce raisin. It was better, but again I altered the recipe. Just not as much flavor without the sugar. I am going to keep trying though. I took these to my church small group tonight (yes, I totally used them as my guinea pigs!) and they are almost all gone, so they must have tasted fine to everyone else! I didn't take a picture though...
ok, i searched online too. what i'd really like is a list of natural sweeteners, like applesauce. that's my list so far. i found a recipe for blueberry cornmeal muffins and they use apple juice concentrate as a sweetener. they also use a prune puree. http://www.pastrywiz.com/archive/recipe/0203.htm i think that's an interesting idea, juice concentrates. i would think that for say cranberry orange muffins you might be able to use orange juice for the sweetener, but the orange flavor may take over the muffin or bread.
so then i went to ask.com and asked jeeves to find me a list of natural sweeteners and this is what he came up with, a website i have added to my favorites as both my parents have decided to eschew sugar and i'd like to reduce the amount of sugar i use too. hope it helps. http://www.sweetsavvy.com/
wow! this is so motivating! i can't wait to get home and try out some healthy recipes. i never really got to bake before since shane doesn't like sweets, but now i can just take them into work. i like the idea of not using sugar.
btw, sorry i forgot to mention this before, but johanna, your muffins looked great! i like the oats on top, makes them look professional.
How did you get so smart, Jo? I didn't think to look for sugar alternatives like that - I just did a generic search for "sugar free muffin recipes." I really like the sweetsavvy site. I have some of those things in my house already.
I used applesauce to sweeten the other muffins I made last night. I used to use applesauce as a binder in foods when Aaron was having an allergic reaction to eggs. I used lots of vegan recipes when I did that, and they were all pretty good. He outgrew his egg allergy though, thank goodness. I just have to get back in the habit of looking for substitutes!
Ugh... I finally saw these posts and went to the cool website. Found a recipe for Honey Pretzels that I wouldn't mind trying. It has active dry yeast for the ingredient. I have never used yeast before. Wouldn't know where to find it in a grocery store either.
Active dry yeast should be in the baking aisle, in these tiny little packets. I have some in my pantry with the intention of making homemade bread, but I look at it and think who am I kidding?? I don't have time for that. Love the way the muffins look! I wondered what was on top, but now I know OATS! Great idea!
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