Sugar free baking suggestions needed

[Hattie'sMama]

I am trying to eliminate refined sugar from my household and STRUGGLING! The stuff is everywhere! Does anyone have suggestions for recipes/blogs/cookbooks/tips for baking without sugar, brown sugar, etc. And I'm not looking to replace it with artificial sweeteners...I'm thinking fruit? Fruit juice? Stevia? But I'm not that great a baker and new to this sugar-free lifestyle.

[JamieCatheryn]

Honey is great in baked goods, sometimes I can take a mainstream recipe (cookie, quickbread like banana etc) and instead of sugar use 1/3 the amount in honey. Brownies won't work that way though, they get picky on ratios. If it takes brown sugar add a bit of molasses too.

[serenbat]

you would need to search for what type of item you want to make and see if there is a different version

you can not just sub one for another- honey is an example, the properties do not just switch and you may need to play around with certain things if you do use honey or molasses and re-adjust the "dry" items because both honey and molasses will add more moisture and effect the final outcome

personally I would not bake with honey due to the changes it causes to the nutritional benefits by heating the honey at baking temps

some thing simple -apple sauce can be added, other things you might just want to greatly reduce the amount of sugar called for and still get a great product

depending on what you are making somethings need no sweeter or can be added at the end- pudding/custards can always have fruit or honey added when finished and only a small amount and still be sweet

[SundayCrepes]

We are now gluten free, dairy free, cane sugar free due to food sensitivities. I use coconut palm sugar in place of cane sugar. It's still a refined sugar and it has a caramel taste, but it is lower glycemic index.

Many of the baked goods I've been making come from www.elanaspantry.com. Man are they good. She uses agave syrup. If it's just a little bit, I replace with honey 1:1 amount. If it's a lot of syrup, I'm afraid honey will overwhelm food so I replace part of the agave syrup with honey.

[raksmama]

I am still learning about alternatives too and have made many disasters!

Here are two sites I’ve tried with some recipes turning out  better than others:

http://www.thespunkycoconut.com/search/label/Cake%20and%20Cupcakes

http://www.dld123.com/sweetsavvy/

My family HATES stevia!  Even if there are only a few drops they can taste it and won’t eat it.

That is why the  recipes in  Spunky Coconut did not work for us. I have been meaning to try them using something else like coconut sugar instead of  Stevia.

[JElaineB]

If you don't mind erythriol and xylitol I would recommend http://www.healthyindulgences.net. She also uses stevia quite a bit. I made her sugar free vanilla ice cream last week and it was really good.