Tips for Baking With Swerve

Okay, so I’m finally joining the world and trying some low carb baking with Swerve. Why have I held off for so long? I’ve tried other alternative sweeteners (I still love my stevia), so I’m certainly no stranger to sugar substitutes. Honestly, I think it was the price that kept me from diving in here. Yup, I’m not going to sugar coat it (eh?), $12/lb (what the grocery store charged) is not cheap. I actually stood there, holding the package for a minute or so, thinking “do I really need this?” But, enough of my weird story, on to the results.

Holy Wonka Bar Batman – this stuff is sweet! I made chocolate peanut butter thumbprint cookies as my first Swerve project, and used the same amount as I would of regular sugar. My second batch (the second batch was so much better than the first) used half that amount, to a much better effect.

The other thing I noticed was that Swerve stayed a little granulated when baked. Not the worst thing in the world, but not what I’d want texture-wise for everything. Thirty seconds on Google told me that the quick fix for this is grinding it in a coffee grinder (thanks, internet!). It worked. The cookies did have that slightly “cool” effect that I notice from xylitol as well, but other than that – delicious!

So, taste was great. As for the texture, baking with Swerve did actually make the filling of those cookies set up a bit better, and the actual cookies were softer than when made with stevia.

Back to the whole price thing – Since when baking with Swerve I’m using about half the amount that I would sugar, I’m a little less concerned. I don’t think I’d use it in tea, but I’ll definitely be trying this out in cookies this holiday season!