How to Bake With Liquid Stevia
Sugar doesn't just sweeten baked goods, it also adds bulk and moistens the finished product. If you substitute liquid stevia for sugar in a baking recipe without adding anything to make up for the lost bulk and moisture, you might end up with a flat, dry, off-color version of what you wanted. It's hard to get exactly the right color without sugar's caramelizing properties, but you can make a few other modifications to retain the bulk and moisture of the original baked goods, even without sugar.
Substitute about 1 tsp. liquid stevia extract per cup of sugar in the baking recipe.
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Combine all dry ingredients as directed by the recipe, until you reach the point of adding liquid ingredients.
Add 1/3 cup of extra liquid or "bulk" material per cup of sugar called for, to make up for the moisture and bulk lost when you removed the sugar from the recipe. You can use extra of something already called for in the recipe -- apple sauce or banana puree, for example -- or try one of the alternatives suggested on the Stevia Info website: yogurt, apple butter, unsweetened fruit juice, egg whites or water 1.
Tips
Stevia is derived from the leaves of an herb that grows wild in Paraguay and Brazil. Refined stevia extracts may be as many as 200 to 300 times sweeter than table sugar.
"Raw" or green, powdered stevia may impart a slight, bitter aftertaste and a green tinge to your food; liquid stevia extracts usually do not.
The recommendations above are, like any recipe, a starting point. Feel free to adjust the amount of stevia and proportions of extra liquid to suit your taste and preference.
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References
- Stevia Info: Stevia Cooking Tips
- Stevia Info: Sugar Equivalency Chart
- Giuffre L, Romaniuk R, Ciarlo E. Stevia, ka'a he'e, wild sweet herb from South America - An overview. Emir J. Food Agric. 2013;25(10):746-750. doi:10.9755/ejfa.v25i10.16405
- USDA. Stevia. Updated April 2019.
- Tandel KR. Sugar substitutes: Health controversy over perceived benefits. J Pharmacol Pharmacother. 2011;2(4):236–243. doi:10.4103/0976-500X.85936
- Regnat K, Mach RL, Mach-Aigner AR. Erythritol as sweetener-wherefrom and whereto?. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2018;102(2):587–595. doi:10.1007/s00253-017-8654-1
- Samakkarnthani P, Payanundana M, Sathavarodom N, Siriwan C, Boonyavarakul A. Effect of stevia on glycemic and insulin responses in obese patients - A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study. Diabetes. 2018;67(Suppl 1). doi:10.2337/db18-790-P
- Dyrskog SE, Jeppesen PB, Chen J, Christensen LP, Hermansen K. The diterpene glycoside, rebaudioside A, does not improve glycemic control or affect blood pressure after eight weeks treatment in the Goto-Kakizaki rat. Rev Diabet Stud. 2005;2(2):84–91. doi:10.1900/RDS.2005.2.84
- Ashwell M. Stevia, Nature's zero-calorie sustainable sweetener: A new player in the fight against obesity. Nutr Today. 2015;50(3):129–134. doi:10.1097/NT.0000000000000094
- USDA. Has Stevia been approved by FDA to be used as a sweetener?. Updated March 2018.
- Nunes AP, Ferreira-Machado SC, Nunes RM, Dantas FJ, De Mattos JC, Caldeira-de-Araújo A. Analysis of genotoxic potentiality of stevioside by comet assay. Food Chem Toxicol. 2007;45(4):662–666. doi:10.1016/j.fct.2006.10.015
- American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology. Allergic reactions to stevia, sucralose. Updated April 29, 2019.
- Kimata H. Anaphylaxis by stevioside in infants with atopic eczema. Allergy. 2007;62(5):565–566. doi:10.1111/j.1398-9995.2007.01317.x
Tips
- Stevia is derived from the leaves of an herb that grows wild in Paraguay and Brazil. Refined stevia extracts may be as many as 200 to 300 times sweeter than table sugar.
- "Raw" or green, powdered stevia may impart a slight, bitter aftertaste and a green tinge to your food; liquid stevia extracts usually do not.
- The recommendations above are, like any recipe, a starting point. Feel free to adjust the amount of stevia and proportions of extra liquid to suit your taste and preference.