Changing sweeteners for a recipe can be challenging! If you are wondering about baking with honey or baking with maple syrup instead of sugar in a recipe, you have come to the right place.
Here are some handy dandy tips to make your baked goods and more turn out right!
There are several reasons that you might want to change up the sweeteners that you are using for a recipe.
One is that you ran out of the sweetener that you needed.
The second is that you are using sugar substitutes for health reasons.
Starting to Use Healthier Sweeteners
One of the ways that our family started moving towards more whole foods was to move away from white sugar and start baking with honey, sucanat, and other sweeteners.
Now, instead of making my Homemade Jello, Homemade Chocolate Chips, and Gluten Free Cupcakes with granulated sugar, I moved to other, more wholesome sweeteners.
If you’ve been wondering about baking with honey or baking with maple syrup, or what to do about substituting sugar in your baked goods or other sweet (or not-so-sweet) dishes, then this post should help.
Never Run Out Again of Sweeteners Again
One of my pet peeves (and probably yours too) is running out of something when you are in the middle of the recipe.
And one of my best time and money-saving cooking and baking tips is learning how to substitute one thing for another.
That way you’re not running out to the store at the last minute because you ran out of something. You spend extra time (a lot), extra money on gas, more money than usual because you are making a last minute purchase, plus you might end up buying other things that you don’t need, which really add up.
You know how it goes – you’re making a dessert that calls for honey and all you have is a granulated sweetener, or vice versa. So you get in the car (if you have kids this takes an inordinate amount of time), head to the store, run into traffic, get to the store and grab what you need, in addition to grabbing some other stuff that caught your eye.
About an hour later (at the earliest) you’re back home ready to move on with your recipe, but you’re wiped out now and really don’t feel like finishing anything anyways.
Well, one of the easiest things to substitute in recipes is sweeteners.
I’m a Reformed Sugar-a-holic
Now, I am a reforming sugar-aholic. I used to eat sugar all. the. time.
I once even worked in an ice cream parlor.
Bad idea. Ahem.
I basically would come home and tell my mother that I wouldn’t be needing dinner because I was full from sampling anything and everything (yes we were allowed to do that).
Anyway, I don’t bake quite as much these days since we are focusing on vegetables and animal proteins more and more in our quest to deal with adrenal fatigue, but I still enjoy making whole grain (or non grain) treats (like Chocolate Chia Pudding or Berry Mousse) that require some sweetening.
And I know that a lot of my readers are using traditional sweeteners (hopefully the healthier options of honey, maple syrup, sucanat, and the like) and that these substitution and baking tips would be useful for you.
So when you need to substitute a liquid for a granulated sweetener, how do you do that quickly and easily?
It’s fairly simple, actually.
Mainly, you just need to make up for, or take away from, the liquid part of the liquid sweetener, when adding it to a recipe, and adjust a little for the different sweetness of the sweeteners you are substituting.
Now of course, if the recipe we are talking about is a dish with very little sweetener (like my Focaccia Flax Bread), then it really doesn’t matter. Just substitute one sweetener for another and don’t worry about it.
Additionally, with some non-baking recipes like
you can use whatever sugar substitute you wish (liquid or granulated). The result won’t differ that much regardless of which sugar substitutes you use.
I love forgiving recipes, don’t you :-)?
However, when you are dealing with a sweet baked good, then things get more complicated.
Here’s how to make a sugar substitute in baking and have the result turn out well.
Baking with Honey / Baking with Maple Syrup
1. Substituting Liquid for Granulated
When substituting a liquid for a granulated sweetener (e.g. using honey when the recipe calls for sucanat or brown sugar, or subbing in a liquid low carb sweetener for xylitol, etc.), for every 1 cup of liquid sweetener, subtract 1/4 cup of liquid from the recipe (that means therefore, for every 1/4 cup of honey, subtract 1 Tbsp of liquid).
2. Substituting Granulated for Liquid
The converse is then, when substituting a granulated for a liquid sweetener (e.g. using sucanat, coconut sugar, or xylitol when the recipe calls for maple syrup or honey), for every 1 cup of granulated sweetener, add 1/4 cup of liquid to the recipe (that means therefore, for every 1/4 cup of granulated sweetener, add 1 Tbsp of liquid).
3. Adjusting for Sweetness
Honey and maple syrup are sweeter than sugar
So use less honey or maple syrup (about 1/2 – 3/4 cup) for each cup of sugar, and if you are substituting another sweetener for honey or maple syrup, keep this in mind and adjust accordingly.
4. Oven Temperature Adjustments
If baking with honey or maple syrup, reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees Fahrenheit, since maple syrup and honey will tend to caramelize and burn faster than granulated sweeteners. Conversely, if you are substituting another sweetener for honey or maple syrup, you might wish to raise the oven temperature a bit.
5. The Acidic Component
Since maple syrup and honey are somewhat acidic, when baking you will need to add 1/4 – 1/2 tsp baking soda per cup of honey or maple syrup to the batter so it will rise.
Conversely, you might want to remove that same amount of baking soda from a recipe when substituting another sweetener for maple syrup or honey.
6. Baking with Stevia
If you’d like to use stevia in your baking and cooking, check out Stevia-What It Is and How to Use It for helpful tips.
Stevia is super sweet. In general, 1/32 of a tsp is the equivalent of 2 Tablespooons of sugar. However, it is a little tricky to bake with it. The bulk that you lose by moving to a sweetener that is this concentrated makes it difficult.
Typically I will replace half of the sweetener in a recipe with Stevia Extract and the other half with another low-carb sweetener.
Pretty simple, isn’t it?
I use these tips whenever I have run out of the sweetener I need (which isn’t often, since I purchase my sweeteners in bulk – like everything else :-)), but more often when I am trying out a new recipe and want to use the least expensive sweetener that I have. Then if the recipe isn’t a winner, I’ve spent less money on it than I would have otherwise.
Soon I’ll go into more details of my thoughts about sugar, some more detailed information on sweeteners (including nutritional information and sugar substitutes as well).
Stay tuned!
What sweetener do you most use in your home?
Hello, I would like to know what you recommend me.
I want to cooked a Ham and I am looking one recipe with honey glaze but I cannot eat sugars.
The ingredients are:
100gr demerara sugar
50 ml Madeira
25 ml sherry vinegar
125g honey
I have erythritol and lakanto maple syrup but I don’t know how to do it.
Maybe de erythritol for the sugar and the lakanto for the honey?
Thank you.
Erythritol is 70% as sweet so you will likely want a little more, depending on your tastes. Honey is sweeter than sugar so you will need some extra there as well. Hope that works!
100gr is 1/2 cup of demarara sugar
I think I should use 2/3 cup of Erythritol to substitute it.
But then, with the honey I don’t know how to do it. It is better to use Lakanto syrup or more erithitrol? or both?
Thank you,
Marta
Lakanto is actually erythritol w/ some monk fruit. Since you are subbing liquid for liquid I would go that route to make it easier plus the addition of the monk will make for a better result. I address some benefits of blending sweeteners in this post : https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/how-to-like-stevia/
Hi! Love your blog. There is a great paleo recipe I am using for my Lactation cookies. I want to use Erythritol rather than maple syrup. Any advice on ratios? Thanks I had GD last pregnancy so really want to rid sugar from my life to stay around for a long time with my babies.
Ingredients
2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup coconut oil , melted
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Hello Pamela – thanks so much!
That recipe looks great and congrats on your new little one! Maple Syrup is sweeter than sugar, as you can see in the above post. I would think that you will need 2/3 of a cup of erythritol, but you will need to adjust the liquid by adding at least 1T but I think more. Hope that helps! Did you see this post for Homemade Chocolate Chips? https://wholenewmom.com/whole-new-budget/homemade-chocolate-chips-carob-chips-recipe-revised/
Thank you. Adding 1T of maple syrup or another liquid like the vanilla extract?Thanks so much!
That’s a toughy since there isn’t really a liquid in the recipe. I would try a little coconut milk perhaps. Just go slowly until the cookies are the same texture as usual. The vanilla would be way too strong.
Thanks for posting these. you are becoming some of my favourite blogs!
Thank you so much and welcome!
Hi! I cannot use artificial sweeteners of any kind for health reasons. I found a wonder recipe that calls for 1/3 cup erythritol. How can I substitute honey for the erythritol? (I’m sorry to be dense, but I’m just not sure if the amounts.)
You will want to remove about 1 T liquid (not a big deal) and honey is sweeter than sugar so consider about 1/2 cup sugar for the 1/3 cup erythritol but then about 1/4 – 1/3 cup honey should work.
I’m making a pumpkin pie filling that calls for 1/3 c. maple syrup which I can’t use because of diabetes. Can I make a substitution using Swerve (erthritol) and maple flavoring? I have Swerve Brown, too, if that would help. Thanks!
Hi there – you would be looking at the most at 1c sugar equiv so you would want 1 cup of the Swerve- hope it works well! I need to get my pumpkin pie up on the blog!
Happy Thanksgiving!
I am substituting xylitol for 1 cup of maple syrup.
So I:
Use more xylitol (increase by 1/4 Cup?)
Remove 1/4 – 1/2 tsp of baking soda
Raise oven temp 25 degrees
Add 1/4 cup of liquid for every cup of maple syrup being substituted with xylitol
Yes, that’s about right! Sorry for the delay–I’m so behind on things here! Thanks for reading! Happy baking!
How do I convert a recipe that calls for liquid Steevia to granulated xylitol?
It’s the same as for liquid stevia to sugar. Just look up a liquid stevia chart and go from there. Xylitol and sugar are 1:1. 5 drops is about 1 tsp.
If I want to use Swerve instead of honey or a sticky sweetner do I use the same amount and do I have to add water and heat the swerve to make it in liquid form?
Swerve measures like sugar so you use the conversion amount that I shared for converting from honey using the liquid subs as well.
I make granulated maple sugar as a brown sugar substitute. You can find instructions for making it on Pinterest. Its actually pretty easy! You can even turn it into powdered sugar too!!!
Yes, we have done that too: https://wholenewmom.com/recipes/homemade-unrefined-powdered-sugar/ 🙂
i am making somethinng that uses 180ml maple syrup and i want to use coconut sugar, how much coconut sugar should i use and when you mention liquid what liquid do you mean …. water ???
You’ll want to use double or 4 parts to every 3 of the sugar and any liquid is fine to remove. Whatever is in the recipe.
Thank you, Helpful.
I love baking with xylitol. How would I replace the maple syrup in a recipe with xylitol?
Xylitol is considered to be a 1:1 sub for sugar so you do the same as you would for sugar :).
life saver . Thank you for your advice much appreciated
You are so welcome!
I am making coconut yogurt in my Mealthy pressure cooker. The recipe calls for 4 Tbl. Maple syrup. How much stevia would I need? I have both liquid and powder Stevia. I do not have any other sweeteners at this point.
Thank you for your help.
About 1/16 tsp should work.
Oh thank you. I cannot tell you how much you have helped me in this new road I’m on. You are the best!
Aw thanks! I’m glad to have helped. I think I mentioned before that I was going to be starting a new FB community, but here it is in case you’d like to join. It’s small yet but good and helpful interaction. https://www.facebook.com/groups/171490083677560/
Great information. What about substituting coconut sugar? Can it be 1-for-1 with granulated or brown sugar?
Yes, that should be fine.
Helped in switching honey for Stevie in war eagle mill for corn bread. Yum! Thanks!!
Thank you so much for your post. I’m wanting to make vanilla ice cream. My daughter’s insulin is higher than normal and we have been advised to try low carb to bring it down so I would like to substitute 1/3 cup of confectioners sugar for erythritol. Do I just swop them. Would this work? Many thanks
Erythritol is 70% as sweet as sugar. Powdered sugar typically you need twice as much so you need 1/6 cup of sugar and then that would be about 10.5 tsp. Hope that works!