Sugar-Free Cherry Pie

[boigrrrlwonder]

We're going cherry picking! I'm looking for a good sugar-free (no white sugar, brown sugar, molasses, or maple syrup; we do use fruit juice concentrate, agave, and stevia) for cherry pie or other baked cherry goods (using tart cherries).

[cristeen]

Not sure any of those are really going to cut it with sour cherries... the agave would probably make it too liquidy, but that would be what I would go with (although I'd use honey over agave). I always use instant tapioca as the thickener in my pies... I like it better than cornstarch, so I'd increase it to compensate for the extra liquid.

Afraid I don't have a recipe for you, since sour cherries are not ready yet here.

[laohaire]

I don't have a good answer for you, but I try to minimize sugar in baking quite a bit. I do not like agave or stevia, though I do like honey and maple syrup, and I grudgingly use sugar when I feel like I don't have other options.

But one of my thoughts was to mix tart and sweet cherries, assuming your local orchard grows both (mine does). Unfortunately the sweet cherries are not exceedingly sweet, but more watery in the pie. That was my experience, anyway - but the pie was still edible. (I also did put a tablespoon of white sugar in too).

Another thought is to try a different cherry dessert? Cherry cobbler perhaps? Cherry crumble? You can make the batter/crumble not sweet and just bake the cherries into it. Think like a strawberry biscuit or strawberry cornbread, the bread part is not sweet but the cherries add the sweet/tart to it.

My last thought was maybe soaking the cherries in one of your fruit juices. But don't actually add juice to your pie, just do a presoak to sweeten the cherries. (Soak chopped/sliced cherries of course).

Anyway, hope you figure something out.

[Jane]

I've made lots and lots of sugar free pies for my fruit lovin' diabetic father. During the summer, our home is a 2-3 pie a week family. I just make the pie without sugar. I use corn starch & flour (for thickening) and usually cinnamon, blend with the fruit, and layer it in the pie crust. Cook!
After it comes out, I cut the pie, and flip up the crust lid and sprinkle on Equal/asparatame. I bet you could do similar with Stevia.

[laohaire]

Originally Posted by Apricot

I've made lots and lots of sugar free pies for my fruit lovin' diabetic father. During the summer, our home is a 2-3 pie a week family. I just make the pie without sugar. I use corn starch & flour (for thickening) and usually cinnamon, blend with the fruit, and layer it in the pie crust. Cook!

That's true, if your taste has been adjusted away from supersweet there is no reason to add any sugar at all.

I don't usually add any sugar to my apple pie, for example. Just apples and cinnamon and a spoonful of flour to thicken the juices, and a pinch of salt to counter the natural sweet.

Cherries are just more tart, so I do add a bit. But if your taste allows for a very tart pie, it's not like the pie will fall apart or anything without the sugar.