While I am relatively new to baking, I share a goal with many modern bakers: reducing the sugar in a baked good.
The common theme among bakers is to use half sugar and half Splenda to reduce the sugar. While that solution can solve the problem, I also wanted less sweetness in my baked goods.
So I wanted to reduce the sweetness and sugar without resorting to anything artificial.
Over the holidays, I set out to bake my first pumpkin pie ever. I took a basic recipe from a well-known manufacturer of canned pumpkin (not that I used their canned pumpkin).
The recipe called for ¾ cup of sugar and 12 oz. of evaporated milk as the sources of sugar in the recipe. I know that buying the can of evaporated milk is part of the baking process, but that feels like overkill, especially when milk and sugar are the ingredients and I already have milk in the house.
My plan was to use maple syrup to replace my sugar and use regular milk for the evaporated milk.
You can use ¾ of the maple syrup to replace 1 part sugar. So I should have used 9/16 of a cup of maple syrup. I decided to use ½ cup of maple syrup just to cut out that much more of the sweetness.
Using liquid for my sugar and a thinner liquid for my milk gave me too much liquid. So I had some leftover pie filling and the pie took 45 minutes more to bake. This was my first pumpkin pie after all, so perfection wasn't going to happen.
The pumpkin pie turned out surprisingly edible. Good even. Definitely not sweet, but didn't taste like pumpkin out of a can. Sweet enough for me, but my sweet tooth is diminished.
Things I would do next time
-- One of my Facebook friends suggested using a third egg to thicken the liquid. I did have one extra egg with me this time.
-- 12 oz. of thickened evaporated milk somehow doesn't equal 12 oz. of skim milk. It does, but it doesn't.
-- I should have gone with 9/16 cup of maple syrup. A little more sweetness would have been good. Reducing is great, but finding the right amount is better. And maybe I would have added a pinch more in lieu of the sugar in the evaporated milk.
-- Think about using maple sugar instead of maple syrup. Using less maple sugar than regular sugar would have given that maple taste without adding extra sweetness.
Reducing sugar doesn't mean having to sell yourself short. The less sugar you use in a recipe, the longer the sugar supply will last, whatever form of sugar you use in your recipes. And you don't have to buy Splenda or another artificial sweetener. This does require readjusting your taste buds to accept something that is sweet, but not that sweet. A treat that isn't as sweet is still a treat when you accept a little less sweet.
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