It’s been a long known factual truth: white refined sugar is a necessary evil, but still – evil. Doctors and nutritionists can’t stop talking about how we should all stop consuming it because we risk high blood sugar, cardiovascular problems and piling fat which we won’t be able to get rid of so easily later. But then again, who thinks of these things when a delicious piece of cake with a fat layer of cream covered with this amazing fruit sirup on top is served right after dinner and accompanied with a glass of rose? I mean please, if you say you instantly refuse this heavenly piece of delight, then go ahead – fool yourself.
However, no need to punish yourself or feel bad; you’re only human after all. Luckily, there’s a much healthier alternative to white refined sugar today which allows you to bake as much as you want without counting the calories and stressing out about your heart condition. Introducing: healthy cooking with stevia instead of sugar.
How do you do it?
First things first: you need to get familiarized with the facts on stevia. Stevia is a natural sweetener derived from a plant, and as such, it is about 200-300 times much sweeter than sugar. That being said, you need to use only a very small amount of it to sweeten your cakes and other baked goods. Controlling your heart condition, blood pressure and the level of sugar in your blood will be a lot easier this way.
Substituting sugar the right way
There are measurements when it comes to substituting sugar with stevia, you can’t just start using it as regular sweetener. Remember, it is a lot sweeter than sugar, so if you’re really serious about healthy cooking with stevia instead of sugar, you’re going to need to learn the measurements. It goes something like this:
- 1 cup of sugar can be substituted with 1 teaspoon liquid stevia, 1/3 to ½ teaspoon of stevia extract powder or 1 tablespoon of concentrated liquid stevia. As you can see, the amount of stevia used in baked goods here is much less than if you would’ve used sugar.
What to do next
Since you’ll have a lot less sugar to work with, you’ll have to compensate on the bulking agent. You can use any type of bulking agent, as your recipe requires: bananas, apple sauce, yogurt, fruit juice, egg whites and even water. The measurement is as it follows: for every cup of sugar you substituted with stevia, you should add 1/3 cup of the bulking agent you’re using. Then you mix everything together and you have your mixture for baking.
All in all, cooking with stevia is pretty much the same as cooking with sugar. The difference is in the amount used since stevia as a sweetener is a lot, lot stronger. And if you were thinking how would your coffee taste with it, try it – just don’t put an entire teaspoon of it.