Honey Instead of Sugar?
This week’s question comes from an anonymous reader who wants to know “In baking with honey, do I just substitute the called for sugar?”
Here is the scoop on cooking with honey: go ahead and substitute honey for sugar in a salad dressing or marinade in equal quantities or to taste. You will probably be less successful however, if you substitute honey for sugar in bakery items. Refined sugar is stable and reacts consistently when used in baked goods; honey, on the other hand, varies in its chemical compound depending on where it has been derived from. It is also much more acidic than sugar, so baked goods that contain baking powder or baking soda won’t rise properly if you just swap out the sugar for honey.
If you love the taste of honey, there are many great recipes that are developed specifically using honey as a sweetener. You might want to try Orange Honey Chiffon Cake or Chocolate Fig Honey Cake.
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I have been using a lot of honey in my baked goods and so far have not had any problems. Here is one recipe that is so simple, yet so delicious: http://myyearwithout.blogspot.com/2008/05/cookies-cookies-cookies.html
I have been substituting a lot of honey, agave and date sugar for regular white sugar because I gave up white sugar for the year. It is amazing how sweet you can make things without using the white stuff!
That recipe looks tasty, like a honey shortbread! Honey is great to bake with but doesn’t always swap out one to one, as you probably discovered – experimentation is the key!
Why did you give up sugar, is it all sugar or just white sugar?
My 8 year old daughter is “allergic” to cane sugar. She has drastic behaviour swings when she eats it. We must do a lot of substituting. She can have honey, maple syrup, etc. Can we increase the amount of baking powder/soda to compensate?
can’t get maple sugar in North Van\\ West Vancouver — anyway of using brown sugar + maple syrup and in what proportion instead?
chas,
you could substitute brown sugar for maple sugar and try adding a bit of maple extract for flavour,
sugar free,
It’s not a straight ratio and it would depend on the recipe. There are lots of sugar free or honey, maple, etc. recipes around – try those. Or else experiment with the recipes that you have, you might not get great results right off but if it’s a family favourite it might be worth perfecting without sugar.
I think if we went back to more natural ingredients like honey etc…we would all be a lot healthier…many health problems now are related to refined & fast grown food & entres.
Having grown up in a large family…I find it a odd to see all of this info looking like it is new for the 3 Rs..reduce, reuse & recycle.
Everything was organic then & I especially
remember a man coming around with a truck selling vegetables & fruit & milk delivery & I still frequent places & farms for these items as often as I can.
Green – meant the grass on the lawn back then.
I Like The Way You Present The Facts