Shuga!

Image from: Bon Appetit



As I'm slowly dipping my feet back into baking, I am a little cautious about the sugar content.  I know and agree that a little sweetness does nobody harm but I'm also nearing forty and unfortunately that means I need to watch what goes into my body. Yup.  But, I do not want to compromise the quality of the baked goods so I did a quick google research and wanted to share my findings with y'all.  Note:  This does not mean that I'll be depriving all of my baked goods of the full requirement of sugar.  ;) 

How Sugar Affects Baking from Fine Cooking explains what sugar is supposed to do in baking.  It's a bit of a read so have a hot drink handy when going through the article.  I skimmed most of the article and slowed down on parts that were of interest to me.  What I was most interested in was how eliminating sugar would affect my baked goods.  It may be obvious to some but if I may state the obvious, sugar adds moisture and texture to baked goods.  Since I'm trying to lessen the sugar content, the problem I would face is a drier cake with coarse texture.  Not that appealing.

How Can I Reduce Sugar is from The Kitchn and the article gives a simple answer to the question: "How can I reduce sugar in baked goods?"  It says that egg yolk adds moisture and egg white dries up the baking so the simple solution would be to add another egg yolk or eliminate egg white depending on what would work for your recipe.  How to determine what would work will probably be completely up to you.  Personally, I would choose to add an egg yolk, especially if I'm baking cake or quick bread.  I feel that it would add more richness to the baking.  The article poses this question to its readers and there are others who pitch in on what they do when eliminating sugar in their baking. 

The Best Sugar Alternatives from Popsugar Fitness lists great sugar alternatives and what's awesome is the article gives the perfect ratio for each alternative.  E.g. 1 cup of sugar swapped for 2/3 Agave Nectar

Your Guide to Baking with Sugar Alternatives from Bon Appetit is a fantastic guide for what each sugar substitute would be good for and the pros and cons of using each of the substitutes.  For example, honey would be a good substitute for producing moist baked goods like coffee cake.  Very practical!