6 Sweeteners To Improve Your Baking Game

Are you looking for new methods to sweeten your desserts? These organic sugar substitutes are nearly identical to the real thing. 

Messing with a baking recipe can be tricky—too much flour or not enough baking soda, and your favourite chocolate chip cookies turn flaky or flat. So, it's a little scary to think about replacing the most basic baking ingredient—sugar—with something else sweet. It's okay to give your sugar canister a break now and then. It's easier than you would think to substitute another sweetener, and you can do so without sacrificing texture or flavour in the cookies, cakes, and desserts you love to make.

Whether you're short of sugar or want to change things up, these clever baking substitutes can keep your baked goods tasting fantastic.

1. Experiment with maple syrup and honey 

Using maple syrup or honey in place of sugar in basic baked products like sugar cookies or pound cake, adds a little extra flavour to the finished product. You'll only need around a third of a cup of maple syrup or honey to replace a full cup of granulated sugar in your recipe. To compensate for the liquid nature of these sweeteners, you'll need to use a liquid measuring cup and reduce the number of other liquids (such as water or milk) by three tablespoons for every cup of syrup or honey. Make sure to keep an eye on your cake or cookies or lower the oven temperature a fraction, as they may bake faster than a regular sugar cake or cookie.

To make life easier for you, we have a basic guide to using these alternatives—swap one cup granulated sugar for ¾ cup syrup or honey.

2. Try agave nectar

Because this blue agave syrup is so sweet, you'll only need a third of a cup to replace a full cup of sugar. Reduce the number of other liquids in the recipe by three tablespoons per cup of agave nectar, just like honey and maple syrup, and your baked goods will be done sooner. However, agave has no distinct flavour, unlike other liquid sweeteners, so your baked items will taste more like the original sugar recipe. In fact, Agave Nectar also makes a healthy sugar alternative.

Swap one cup of granulated sugar for ⅔ cup agave nectar.

3. Explore brown and powdered (icing) sugar

Making your own brown sugar and powdered sugar is one of the most game-changing baking hacks, and it's simple with a few cupboard supplies. Simply grind granulated sugar until it's fine enough for your needs in a blender or food processor to make icing sugar. (Depending on how powerful your blender is, it may take a few minutes.) Because the highly processed powder is about twice the volume of granulated sugar, if you require a cup of icing sugar, start with about a half cup of granulated sugar. To prevent clumping, add a tablespoon of corn starch to each cup of granulated sugar when processing it for later use.

Swap one cup granulated sugar for two cups confectioners’ sugar.

It's even simpler to manufacture brown sugar. Before adding to the mixture, combine about a spoonful of molasses with each cup of granulated sugar. To keep brown sugar from getting hard as a rock in your cupboard, put it in a clay disc.

Swap one cup brown sugar for 1 cup granulated sugar + 1 tablespoon molasses.

4. Discover fruit sugars

Fruit sugars, such as date sugar and coconut sugar, can be used for granulated sugar in baked goods and will give them a distinct flavour. They're available in most health food stores.

Swap one cup granulated sugar for one cup fruit sugar.

5. Swap in pureed fruit 

Take it a step further and only add fruit if you enjoy the taste of fruit sugars. To replace sugar in your recipe, use a 1:1 mix of applesauce and mashed bananas. If you're going to use bananas as a baking alternative, make sure they're as ripe as possible and puree them until smooth before using them.

Swap one cup granulated sugar for one cup mashed banana or applesauce

6. Go half-and-half

If you want to make your recipe lighter but still get that delicious flavour of a sweet treat, replace half of the sugar with one of these alternatives and keep the other half.

Swap½ cup granulated sugar for ½ a tablespoons liquid sweetener reduction. 

Organic sugar and sweeteners

Natural ingredients, not processed or made with added sugars, provide us with all the sweetness we require. Don't let marketing claims convince you that one type of sugar is better for you than another; while some may be less damaging than others, your body still doesn't benefit from so many additional sweeteners that aren't found naturally in foods. Browse through our selection of sweeteners and organic sugar here. We have options available for all kinds of cooking and baking.

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