Released on: October 23, 2008, 2:57 am

Press Release Author: Shilpa Singh

Industry: Food & Beverage

Press Release Summary: Do you love sugar but have to cut back? Does your low sugar
diet preclude your favorite desserts and make your food taste bland? If so, not to
worry, there are ways to bake even your favorite desserts using less sugar, with or
without sugar substitutes? It just requires some experimentation and a working
knowledge of what sugar actually does in a recipe. Once you understand what the role
of sugar is in your baking and cooking, you can make appropriate adjustments and
substitutes.

Press Release Body: Do you love sugar but have to cut back? Does your low sugar diet
preclude your favorite desserts and make your food taste bland? If so, not to worry,
there are ways to bake even your favorite desserts using less sugar, with or without
sugar substitutes? It just requires some experimentation and a working knowledge of
what sugar actually does in a recipe. Once you understand what the role of sugar is
in your baking and cooking, you can make appropriate adjustments and substitutes.

In most types of cooking, sugar is only there for the flavor - the sweetening power.
You can easily reduce the amount of sugar that you use in fruit compote, for
instance, and you'll probably find that the fruit flavors are far more intense.
Natural sugars like fructose in fruit and lactose in milk a lot of nutritional value
along with the crabs and calories. Using natural sweeteners like apple juice is one
way to add sweetness while cutting back on granulated sugar. Sugar substitutes are
another way to add sweetness to drinks and food without adding calories or
carbohydrates.

However, baking with sugar is a different story. Granulated sugar does more than
sweeten baked goods. It can affect volume, moisture texture and color of the
finished cakes, cookies, pies and candy. Substituting other ingredients for sugar in
baked goods can cause your baked goods to fail - or at least come out far
differently than you expect. If you are using sugar substitutes in baking, or trying
to cut back on sugar in your baked goods, here are some tips to help you out.
# Sugar substitutes work best in cold recipes, or added at the end of cooking time.
Heat can destroy the sweetness of most sugar substitutes and leave an unpleasant
aftertaste.
# Try using sugar substitutes half and half with sugar in your baked substitutes.
# Use spices and other flavor enhancers to bring out the flavor of dishes when you
reduce sugar. Lemon and orange zest brings out fruit flavors. Vanilla and nut
flavorings make baked goods smell buttery and sweet, which enhances the sweetness of
your recipes. Cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and allspice all enhance sweetness in
recipes.
# When you cut sugar in chocolate recipes, substitute strong, cold coffee for some
of the liquid to enhance the chocolate flavor without adding additional sweetness.
# Top reduced sugar baked goods with fruit or fruit spread to put the flavors right
up front so that they are tasted immediately.
# Sprinkle reduced sugar cakes with cinnamon and sugar substitute for the same effect.

Texture and Volume

# Sugar helps cookie dough to spread during baking. Without sugar, the cookies may
not spread properly. When baking cookies using sugar substitutes, flatten each
cookie slightly before baking just as you would peanut butter cookies.
# Intensify sweetness in a dish with fruit juice. Reduce the juice to 1/3 of its
original volume by boiling it over high heat for extra sweetness.
# Muffins and cupcakes cooked with lower sugar may not rise as high or achieve the
round-domed top that we expect. Bake them in mini-muffin tins rather than regular
size to allow them to rise higher.
# Add teaspoon of baking soda to a recipe to make baked goods with reduced sugar
rise in a shorter baking period.
# To increase volume, use whipped egg whites in recipes that call for eggs. Start
with eggs warmed to room temperature.

Appearance of Baked Goods
# Spray the top crust of a fruit pie with cooking spray and sprinkle with a tiny
amount of sugar before baking. You can reduce the amount of sugar in the filling
because each bite of crust puts the sweetness up front - and your pie will brown
nicely as a bonus.
# Cakes and breads made with reduced sugar or sugar substitutes don't brown because
there is less sugar to caramelize during baking. Try adding a tablespoon or two of
molasses to the recipe to deepen the color and add moisture.
# Sprinkle cinnamon or nutmeg on top of breads, cakes or muffins to give the
impression of browning.
# In fruit dishes, add a small amount of dark brown sugar to give the finished
product a deep, rich, buttery brown color.

Texture and Moisture
# For moister baked goods, use mashed or pureed fruits in place of some of the sugar
and butter. You can use applesauce, but ripe bananas, sweet potatoes and carrots are
more flavorful and add more tenderness and moisture. (Tip: Why puree? Buy baby food
jars of pureed fruits and veggies to use in baked goods. They have no added sugar or
salt.)
# When using a sugar substitute, cooking times are considerably shorter. Pull
cookies and brownies out of the oven before they look done. They'll continue to cook
while they cool.


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