How To Bake Holiday Favorites With Stevia Instead of Sugar
A great way to enjoy the season’s baked goods is to make them using stevia instead of sugar.
Stevia, an herbal sweetener with no calories, no carbs, and a zero glycemic index rating can - with a bit of recipe tweaking - make your favorite holiday treats a bit more diabetes-diet friendly.
Substituting with Stevia: Two Steps
Recipe tweaking is necessary since stevia is far sweeter than sugar. The amount of stevia used will depend on the type of stevia you buy, and the equivalencies are approximate—so you can adjust them to taste.
Step 1
Replace each cup of sugar in your recipe with one of the following:
- 1 teaspoon liquid stevia
- 1/3 to 1/2 teaspoon stevia extract powder
- 1 tablespoon concentrated stevia clear liquid
- 18 to 24 individual stevia serving packets
Some people find stevia has a slightly different taste than table sugar. If this is a concern, you might substitute only half the recipe’s sugar with stevia.
Step 2
Because so little stevia is needed, the bulk that sugar normally gives a recipe needs to be substituted for as well. So, for every cup of sugar replaced by stevia, you need to add 1/3 cup liquid or other “bulk” ingredient, such as:
- water
- apple sauce (unsweetened, or no sugar added)
- plain, unsweetened yogurt
- egg whites
You can also bulk-up a recipe with apple butter, 100 percent fruit juice (e.g., apple, pineapple, grape), or fruit puree, but these will add sugar carbs back into the recipe.
Smaller Stevia Substitutions
To replace:
- 1 teaspoon of sugar: use 2 to 3 drops of liquid stevia, or 4 to 6 drops of concentrated stevia clear liquid.
- 2 teaspoons of sugar: use 4 to 6 drops of liquid stevia, or 8 to 12 drops concentrated stevia clear liquid.
- 1 tablespoon of sugar: use 6 to 9 drops of liquid stevia, or 1/8 teaspoon concentrated stevia clear liquid.
“Christmas cookies can’t help but be retro - they are memory first, sugar-flour-egg-redhot-gumdrop-sparkle reality second.” ~ Dana Goodyear
Sources: Stevia Info; Stevia Equivalency Chart
Photo credit: Eric
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