sugar free

Sugar-Free Sugar Cookies

October 24, 2017

If there is one thing you can find in abundance on this blog, it’s sweets. And I don’t discriminate, I like sweets of all kinds – cookies, cupcakes, cakes, brownies, ice cream. But I do like balancing my sweet tooth with a healthy diet (most of the time). Sometimes I can have the best of both worlds and have my sweets but also be healthy.

Case in point: sugar-free sugar cookies.

Now, I know what you are thinking. How can you make a sugar cookie without sugar? While there may not be any refined sugar in these cookies, there are some all natural sweeteners (agave syrup and Stevia) in these cookies that give them their classic sweetness without the sugar rush.

In addition, the cookies are made with some whole wheat pastry flour which really amps up the healthy factor. Almost making these cookies guilt free. Almost.

These sugar-free sugar cookies already have the sugar-free thing and whole wheat flour going for them, but, in addition, they also use half as much butter as my classic sugar cookie. Thanks to the moisture provided by the agave syrup, you only need a half a cup of butter to make a full batch of cookies.

To make the cookies, I start by mixing together the butter, agave, and stevia. Then I add the egg and vanilla. After that, I mix in the whole wheat pastry flour.

You could also use plain all-purpose flour or normal whole wheat flour. Just be warned that by using 100% normal whole wheat flour you will end up with a distinct whole wheat taste. If that doesn’t bother you then go for it! If it does, I recommend finding some whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour or mix in half all-purpose and half whole wheat to still get the whole wheat benefit.

One great thing about this dough is that it can be rolled out immediately if you are short on time. But I prefer to wrap my dough in plastic wrap and to let it chill for about an hour before rolling it out. This not only helps the flour soak up some of the moisture, but it makes it a lot easier to roll and cut out.

Normally when I roll out my dough, I just roll it out right on my pastry board with a little bit of flour. But because this dough is a little on the dry side (whole wheat flour tends to do that) I want to use as little flour as possible. To roll out my dough without it sticking to anything, I roll it between two sheets of parchment paper and a tiny sprinkling of flour. Of course, I could do this with my normal sugar cookies, but I am just too lazy.

Then I cut out my cookies as normal and pop them in the oven to bake.

These cookies are perfect for decorating because they keep their shape really well, but are also really light and fluffy thanks to the agave syrup. For decorating these cookies, in keeping with the sugar-free theme, I made a batch of this sugar-free buttercream frosting. I did attempt to make sugar-free royal icing…but I am pretty sure that is impossible. You just need some sugar to make the icing work.

Full disclosure, though, the sprinkles are 100% sugar. I struggled to find any sugar-free sprinkles and decided in the end that cookies with 99% less sugar than a normal frosted sugar cookie is pretty dang good. Of course, if you are looking to eliminate all the refined sugar, you can just skip the sprinkles. Or make your own.

These cookies will be perfect for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, you name it. You can frost them with sugar-free frosting, or use my favorite royal icing (which is basically pure sugar) if you are just looking to cut out a little bit of sugar.

I am so happy to have this recipe in my back pocket now. Next time I make cookies for my friends’ kids (or myself) I will certainly use this recipe to cut out some sugar and make my cookies a bit more healthy!
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Apple Pie Overnight Oats

October 16, 2017

Breakfast is definitely my favorite meal of the day. Not only does it get my day started off on the right foot, it is also the only meal where it is socially acceptable to eat sweets. (Think about it, muffins are just breakfast cupcakes and pancakes are literally pan cakes!) While I will happily take full advantage of the pancake/waffle section of any brunch menu on the weekends, during the week I do try to be a bit healthier in my breakfast choices while still satisfying my 24/7 sweet tooth.

Which is why I love this new(ish) overnight oat trend! It takes a good ol’ breakfast standby (oatmeal) and turns it into something that could almost be dessert. Or in the case of these apple pie overnight oats, it takes a favorite dessert and turns it into a respectable breakfast.

I should say, a very respectable breakfast. To make these apple pie overnight oats, I didn’t use a single gram of sugar. I did use honey and maple syrup to sweeten it up a tad, but if you are watching your glucose intake, you could cut them out completely.

First, I mixed together the applesauce and the apple pie spice in the bottom of a jar. Then I poured in the milk. In this case, I used unsweetened almond milk, but you can use whichever milk product you prefer. Lastly, I poured in the oats and mixed them in with everything else so that everything was evenly distributed.

I popped the jars into the fridge so that they would be ready for me in the morning!

The oats are delicious on their own. But to really conjure up that apple pie flavor I made an apple topping that is basically just apple pie filling, minus most of the butter and all of the sugar.

The apples on top also added just a bit more sweetness to the oats which really made me feel like I was eating dessert for breakfast. Except unlike the muffins, pancakes, or waffles I have most weekends, this breakfast is actually pretty dang healthy.

One other benefit of overnight oats that I forgot to mention is that you can make a bunch up ahead of time; then, in the morning you can grab your oats and go! I have found that the oats stay good in the fridge for three or four days. So I make up a couple jars on Sunday night, and I have breakfast planned for the rest of the week!

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Homemade Sugar Free Barbecue Sauce

May 26, 2017

This is the perfect recipe to kick off a holiday weekend! I know a lot of you are going to be out grilling this weekend, and you will almost certainly be reaching for some barbecue sauce! Barbecue is my condiment of choice for just about anything – ribs, chicken, fries…you name it. But have you ever looked at the ingredients on a bottle of barbecue sauce? One of the first two ingredients is always sugar! GAH!

Don’t get me wrong, I have a mild addiction to the sugar in just about any form. But I would rather eat my sugar in the form of a cookie than sneaking around in my barbecue sauce.

Which is why I tried to come up with my very own recipe for a sugar free version that I would like just as much as the Sweet Baby Rays in our fridge.

The problem is that barbecue sauce just needs to have some sweetness (in my opinion) to be good. So how can you add that without adding sugar?

I did it in a couple ways. The first, slightly unconventional way, was through the use of a pureed caramelized onion. It may sounds kind of strange, but believe me, it works. I just love the flavor of caramelized onions to begin with, so adding it to the sauce would do nothing but good things.

The second way was through adding in some natural sweeteners like honey and molasses. Most barbecue sauces have molasses or brown sugar in them anyways, so it is an important flavor to add to the sauce.

The last way was by adding a bit of pineapple juice. Amazingly, pineapple juice concentrate is in some of your favorite commercially prepared barbecue sauces anyways. Not sure if its for the flavor, sweetness, or something else. But in my case I added it because pineapple is very sweet, but also has a nice tart taste that balances out the rest of the flavors.

[BT Dubs, that orange thing up there on the right is my honey jar! I found this awesome little mason jar top that I just popped onto a store-bought honey jar. I love it!]

There are lots of other ingredients that go in barbecue sauce, like tomato sauce, vinegar, mustard powder, garlic powder, smoke flavor, etc. etc. Really, the flavors you add are up to you and what you prefer. If you like spicy sauce, add some cayenne. I just chose the flavors and spices that would be found in most of your standard barbecue sauces because that’s what I like!

After a few minutes over the stove, the sauce is pretty much done! It’s really simple actually. If you want a smoother sauce, you could pour it into a blender and give it a couple turns. That also seems to help all the flavors come together even more.

Now the sauce is ready to marinate, slather, bathe, coat, or spread onto any darn thing you like! I immediately added it to a slow cooker with a couple of chicken breasts to make some pulled barbecue chicken. It was delicious! Albeit, not as sweet as that Sweet Baby Rays, but it was still fantastic! A little sweet, a little smokey, and a little tart. Yum!

I recommend storing the sauce in an airtight jar or container. You could also pop it into an old barbecue sauce bottle, or into your own squeeze bottle. It should last in the fridge for a week or two. I will tell you, I have a bottle that is over 3 weeks old in the fridge that still looks good and I’m tempted to use it for dinner tonight. Don’t worry, I will inspect it thoroughly beforehand.

Worst case, I just whip up another batch!

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Gluten-Free Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Cookies

August 28, 2014

This gluten-free sugar-free peanut butter cookie was inspired by the book, Year of No Sugar, which is essentially this woman’s diary of her (and her family’s) year trying to eat no added fructose. Part of the book details her adventures in satisfying her sweet tooth by baking with sugar substitutes that do not have fructose (the bad sugar). After some trial and error (and some research), she determined that brown rice syrup was her best option.

Taking her lead, I decided to do my own experimenting with baking with brown rice syrup. Clearly I have a weakness for baked goods, so if I can find away to reduce or completely eliminate the amount of fructose in those baked goods I’m all for it!

I also wanted to experiment with gluten-free flours as well, and why not mix the two for an even healthier combination, right?!

To make these cookies gluten free, I used a mixture of coconut flour (purchased at Trader Joe’s) and buckwheat flour (found at my local supermarket). To make these sugar-free, I obviously used the brown rice syrup, which I found at Whole Foods (it was in the same aisle as the honey). You could also replace part of the brown rice syrup with a half of a banana if you like that banana taste (I do not).

The resulting cookies are full of peanut butter flavor with a hint of coconut from the flour and oil. They also have a hint of sweetness that is highlighted by the sea salt sprinkled on top of the cookie.

But if we are being totally honest here, these do not compete with normal gluten-full and sugar-full peanut butter cookies. You just can’t get the same taste with the coconut flour and brown rice syrup. I’m sorry, but you can’t. HOWEVER, if you are on a very restricted diet and cannot consume gluten and/or sugar, these cookies are pretty dang good.

How do I know? I made these right before a friend came in town. Over the course of the weekend I saw her sneak a couple cookies from the container, and by the end of the weekend, they were gone.

I mean, if that doesn’t tell you they are good, I don’t know what will.

Have you ever made gluten-free or sugar-free baked goods? What ingredients did you use?c

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Sugar-Free Strawberry Lemonade

May 27, 2014

Summer has not officially started yet, but as usual no one has informed the weather that June 21st has not yet arrived. For the past few weeks we have experienced some pretty warm weather almost everywhere, at least below the Mason-Dixon line.

I don’t know about you, but one of my all time favorite Summer (or really, anytime) drinks is strawberry lemonade. I love lemons. I could eat lemons raw, that’s how much I love them. I also love strawberries, so what could be better than the combination of the two, right? One of the things I don’t love about lemonade is how much sugar is in it in order to counter act the sourness. Instead of sugar, I used Stevia, which is great to use in drinks because it dissolves pretty easily without having to heat up your liquid. It is also much sweeter than granulated sugar so you can use less.

The strawberry juice also adds some extra sweetness which means you can use less sugar. There are a couple ways to add strawberry juice to the lemonade:

1. Juice the strawberries using a electric juicer;

2. Puree the strawberries and add it to the lemon juice, seeds and all; or

3. Puree the strawberries and run it through a sieve in order to remove the seeds and pulp.

I choose option #3. But all are fine options.

If you do plan on making this recipe, use it more of a guideline. Start with your lemon juice and strawberry juice, then add part of the sugar and water, adding more until you get the desired sweetness and concentration. You may want to add more stevia/sugar/sweetener and water than I have listed in the recipe. Like most of my recipes, I encourage you to play with it and make it your own.

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Gluten Free and Sugar Free Pancakes

May 9, 2014

I really like to reward myself with some little indulgences on weekends. But what I love even more is to indulge myself while still being healthy. One of my favorite indulgences to give a healthy makeover are pancakes because they offer a variety of ways to experiment and are relatively fool proof. To make these pancakes gluten free, I combined 3 different “flours”. Buckwheat flour, almond flour, quinoa flour (which is just dried quinoa processed until fine like a flour).

To make them sugar free, I just used a banana and a little stevia. You could also use apple sauce, honey, or brown rice syrup if you don’t like the banana flavor. I mashed up the banana and mixed it in with milk and eggs before adding it to the dry mixture. I like my batter on the thicker side, but you can always add more milk to make it thinner and thus result in thinner pancakes. After a quick flip on the griddle, I had myself a nice stack of healthy pancakes. The perfect fuel for my Saturday runs.

But I didn’t just stop with making the pancakes healthy. I also decided to make my own “syrup” using strawberries, water, and a little honey. Boy was that stuff delicious!

And I didn’t feel at all guilty about drenching my pancakes in it either.

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