One of the ladies that I work with makes cakes for everyone's birthday. So when it comes time for her birthday I make her cookies - I am not much of a cake baker. She had surgery not too long ago, and wanted cookies that were soft and chewy, without much sugar or nuts, oats and dried fruit. I originally planned on doing some snickerdoodles, but since they didn't turn out too good last time I made them, I thought about looking for something else. One of the problems is that since she couldn't have a lot of sugar I planned on using baking Splenda. I am not a fan of artificial sweeteners at all and haven't ever used it, but I didn't think that it would be as good in a cookie that depended on the sugar for so much of its flavor. So I was looking through the Baking Bites blog and found this recipe for Pumpkin Spice Fudge Cookies. I thought that having some more complex flavors would help hide the Splenda. Instead of pumpkin I had some babyfood jars of pureed sweet potato that I have been using for making cornbread with. I also had to mix my own Pumpkin Pie Spice since I don't own any.
I ran into a complication as I started baking the cookies. As I mentioned before, I hadn't ever baked with Splenda and thought that it could be treated as sugar. The recipe calls for you to melt the butter and add it in with the sugars and cocoa. When I poured the melted butter on top of the Splenda it caused it to clump together. I used a whisk to help break it apart as much as I could, but there were still some lumps in it. I figured I'd go ahead and bake them and see how they turned out, and if it was a disaster I could bring her some cookies in next week. When I pulled the cookie sheet out of the oven, the Splenda clumps had melted and dripped a bit, but it didn't look too bad. I bit the bullet and tried one of them, and it wasn't too bad (although Splenda lingers around in my mouth for a long time). I want to try to make it again using real sugar to see how it turns out. :) Definately a bit different cookie, more of a grown-up cookie since it isn't too sweet and some kids might not like the spicy flavor.
4 comments:
Hi Lythrum~~ I haven't baked with Splenda. Maybe it's because I've got a lifelong affinity for sugar. These cookies sound delish. "Grown up cookie" is code for "they go wonderfully with a steaming cup of coffee."
I haven't used Splenda , I will be trying them with regular sugar they sound delicious....am sure your co worker appreciated you treating her.
I don't do the baking in this house...that's my spouse's job. He is much better at it! The cookies sound good. Sometimes just cutting down on sugar helps without taking too much away from a cookie. gail
I use turbinado for baking. It's unrefined sugar, so it has some actual nutritional value, unlike white refined sugar. You use it just like you would use sugar -- no modifications necessary. And you can actually find in the grocery store these days!
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