Are Reduced-Sugar Treats Really Treats?
During Memorial Day weekend a friend made one of those Pillsbury reduced-sugar chocolate cake mixes with the reduced-sugar canned frosting. It wasn't bad. The flavor and texture were not as rich as the regular mix, and the cake seemed a bit dry. My problem with it was that it made up for the reduced sugar by adding Splenda. I do not like artificial sweeteners. I think it just has to be healthier to eat the actual sugar than a chemical substitute.
Have you tried these mixes yet? What did you think? I guess if I really needed to cut back on my sugar intake, then I could learn to live with these cakes. However, I would rather eat the real thing, preferably homemade and not from a box, and just have a smaller portion.
Splendid?
Finally, someone who sees it my way about artificial sweeteners!
Bring on the real thing!
Darn auto-correct
Don't you just love how modern computers like to correct our spelling, even if we don't want them too?
Any way you spell it, it is still a chemical. Yuck.
Jell-O
Sugar-free Jell-O and pudding, plus diet sodas, are about the only items I enjoy. Otherwise, give me the sugar.
You are right about the texture being off when you reduce the sugar in baking. The proper chemical balance is so important in baking that it is difficult to successfully adjust recipes. One way is to look for recipes in cookbooks for people on special diets, such as for diabetes, heart disease or weight loss. Those recipes are tested extensively before publication, so they often come out okay.
Hi Linda! I've had both good and bad experiences with reduced sugar or sugar substitute cooking.
On the better side of the spectrum, low sugar pudding and Jello usually tastes just about the same as the full sugar versions, and is usually low calorie as well. On the worst side of the spectrum, I've twice tried making brownies with Splenda, and was not very pleased with the results. The texture was way off, and the taste wasn't all there.
I guess it depends on the recipe, and also the method of cooking. For baking, these days I only use regular sugar, but also try and find recipes that make use of other sweeteners (like vanilla) to cut back on the granulated sugar.