Comments on: Everything You Need to Know About Sugar in Baking

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 18:21:29 +0000

Any recommendations on how to cut white and brown sugar to zero or almost zero and use maple syrup? I’ve done the most delicious chocolate cakes with maple syrup. And with cookies, the flavor always turns out great, and I can get cookies moist and delicious without sugar, but I really miss the very chewy texture that the sugar creates. To get them chewy…

A little tapioca flour or some xantham gum? An extra egg yolk? A balance of maple syrup and maple sugar or coconut sugar? I’m also baking w/ gf flour, Bob’s Red Mill… or sometimes with almond flour which when combined with coconut oil can be very moist and decadent. Hmm any ideas or thoughts folks?

By: Kiersten @ Handle the Heat

Kiersten @ Handle the Heat — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 14:53:32 +0000

In reply to alyssa. Hi Alyssa! Unfortunately, as you saw in this article here, altering the sugar content will also change the structure, texture, and appearance of the brownies. I would recommend that your mom try a dark (bittersweet or even unsweetened) chocolate chip inside the brownies, to better balance the sweetness, and experiment with adding a little more salt too. I hope that helps! :)

By: alyssa

alyssa — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 10:09:08 +0000

hey, i have a question , i made your chewy brownie recipe and my friends LOVED it, my mom did too but she keeps saying i need to reduce the sweetness!! I don’t know how to without changing texture or taste by a lot, maybe i use a less sweet chocolate or? please help

By: Emily @ Handle the Heat

Emily @ Handle the Heat — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 18:14:10 +0000

In reply to Jessica. Isn't it crazy hearing all that sugar does?! Happy to hear you found this helpful, Jessica!

By: Jessica

Jessica — Sun, 18 Feb 2024 17:06:56 +0000

Very interesting! I always decrease the sugar by 50% in every sweet recipe, and have wondered why my banana bread is always so much more dense than the picture, even when I increase the egg whites and baking powder. Now I know! It won’t get me to increase my sugar (Most deserts made by others are way too sweet for my taste buds), but maybe I can try some other work-arounds. In any case, I have come to enjoy my hearty banana bread the way that it is. Thanks for the enjoyable read and information!

By: Mysedi

Mysedi — Sun, 07 Jan 2024 13:03:44 +0000

Thank you! This explains the odd shapes my cookies form, I usually reduce the sugar by half especially with American based recipes. However, I still find these extremely sweet and I’m looking for alternatives that maintain texture but lessen the sweetness.

By: Kiersten @ Handle the Heat

Kiersten @ Handle the Heat — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 19:20:15 +0000

In reply to Jennifer Pepler. So glad you enjoyed Tessa's sugar breakdown, Jennifer! We hope you enjoyed your cookies :)

By: Jennifer Pepler

Jennifer Pepler — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 00:25:10 +0000

Thanks for the quick education on the effects of sugar in baking. I actually really appreciated it! I came here from your pumpkin choc chip cookie page. I have been doing more baking and enjoying it for the last 8-9 years. It is relaxing. So learning about sugar in baking was quite interesting and was not really something I gave much thought to until you stated it does more than just add sweetness. So thank you my dear! Once I make the pumpkin cookies I will come back to your site and give you the 5 stars it likely will deserve. Lol

By: Hannah

Hannah — Sat, 09 Sep 2023 06:43:46 +0000

Such an interesting article! I try to keep my sugar content as close to 5g per serving or lower( which makes most sweet treats difficult. I have learned that I can cut sugar by 25-30% without too much problem but the magic trick is to replace the quantity with and equivalent amount of liquid eg milk. This makes up for the lost moisture so helps to keep the texture good.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 01:14:22 +0000

When I bake I usually decrease the sugar by 25% and typically have good results. I prefer the taste of less sweet baked goods and a reduction of that size doesn’t usually make much impact on texture.