Monday, October 3, 2011

{31 Days} Stocking Your Pantry: Sweeteners {+ a re-made apple recipe using natural sweeteners}

Ahhh… sweet carbohydrates.  We love them, don’t you?  To facilitate baking from scratch, having a stock of sweeteners in your pantry is a must. 

Our two most-used sweeteners are locally raised clover honey and molasses.  We also use maple syrup on occasion – especially in fall flavored dishes. 

Beyond these sweeteners, I do also have powdered sugar, brown sugar, sugar and karo syrup (note: Karo syrup is corn syrup, but NOT HFCS). 

Other sweeteners – alternative sources of glucose and sucrose – include sucanat, which we plan to try yet this year.

Although Agave Nectar has gotten a lot of hype in the past couple of years, it’s a sweetener that I do not use.  Agave syrup is just as highly processed and has a nearly equivalent fructose concentration as HFCS.  You won’t find this one in our cupboard.

In addition – you will not find HFCS in our kitchen, nor any artificial sweeteners.

My friend Laura, over at Heavenly Homemakers, has an excellent blog post on sweeteners.  Go check it out.  

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Have you baked with honey?  I invite you to try this delicious fall dish, remade to use honey as a natural sweetener! 

Honey Apple Crisp – Finding Joy in My Kitchen

Ingredients

  • 4-5 medium apples, tart is best
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon, divided
  • 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1/4 C honey, divided
  • 3 T butter, melted
  • 1/3 C & 2 T white whole wheat flour, divided
  • 1 C old fashioned oats

Directions

Begin by peeling, coring and slicing your apples.  Toss them in a large bowl with 2 T white whole wheat flour, 1 tsp. cinnamon & 1/4 tsp. nutmeg.  Stir to mix.   

Drizzle in 1/8 C honey.  Stir well to coat the apples. 

Spread the apples into a lightly greased 9x9 glass baking dish. 

In a second bowl, mix together 1 C old fashioned oats, 1/3 C white whole wheat flour, and 1 tsp. cinnamon.  Stir well.  Add in 3 T melted/softened butter along with 1/8 C honey.  Stir until moistened. 

Layer the oat-honey topping over the apples. 

Bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes, until apples are nice and bubbly and topping is lightly browned. 

Delicious alone… but exceptional with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

What sweeteners do you use the most?  Any you want to try? 

Linked to: Recipe Sharing Monday, Totally Tasty Tuesday, Talent Show Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday (2), Kitchen Tip Tuesday, Works for Me Wednesday

12 comments:

  1. I use honey and maple syrup more than the others. I don't think I've baked much with honey.

    Amen on the artificial sweeteners! I haven't tried sucanat either. Have you tried Stevia? I don't care for it myself, find it too overpowering (i.e. I can't taste the food it's in, even if I decrease the recommended amount by a LOT). Have also heard mixed reviews about whether it's safe (fertility issues in men?)

    Another note on agave...agave & aloe are related to the allium family (onions & garlic). I couldn't figure out why I was getting such terrible stomach aches when I would eat baked goods people made with agave...until I found out it was related to the allium I am allergic to!!

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  2. Oh yum...your honey apple crisp looks absolutely delicious! That is a must try for this fall :)

    I use honey as a sweetener, but haven't baked too much with it.

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  3. This crisp looks lovely! I love honey so I know I would just love this. Perfect for fall!

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  4. I think an apple crisp with honey might be next on our list of things to make with our Deardorff apples. :) Your crisp looks delicious!

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  5. Over the past year I have really cut out all sugar except for pure maple syrup (and maple sugar), raw honey and coconut palm sugar. They taste so much better!

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  6. This is what I LOVE about your blog and your recipes: just real food, with real ingredients, not weird artificial stuff....so refreshing! I actually thought karo corn syrup was the same thing as HFCS. I am so glad to know that they are NOT the same!!! Not a fan of agave nectar or the price. Loving this theme so far and your apple crisp, yum! this looks like a wonderful recipe to make for our company this weekend!

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  7. Hi, SnoWhite! I'd love to link to this post for Kitchen Tip Tuesdays, but I'm just not sure what part is the kitchen tip! :) Is it at the top where you wrote "To facilitate baking from scratch, having a stock of sweeteners in your pantry is a must."? Thanks for clarifying! :)

    Tammy -- who doesn't have a Google account ;)

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  8. My Husband and i are both Diabetic. Apple Crisp is one of my favorite desserts in the fall. I have made it with splenda before, but it really is apple mush that way. I recently found there is a honey that is diabetic friendly. I would like to try to bake apple crisp with it. Tell me, with your recipe, is the crisp, really crispy?

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  9. @ Hopeful Q-Mom --

    The crisp did get crispy -- if you would like it even crispier; consider baking the apples separate and then topping it with a honey-based granola. I'd make the topping the same way, lay it out on a cookie sheet, bake it for 15 min total at 350, stirring every 5 minutes. Then, shut the oven off and allow the oat topping to get really crispy. Then, place that topping over the baked apples during about the last 5 minutes of baking time.

    That could help!

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  10. I've just started using sucanat and I love it! My hyperthyroidism causes me to crash with regular sugar, but sucanat keeps me stable. I read that it has glucose, fructose, and sucrose which keeps blood sugars in balance. It goes especially well in chocolate foods, like chocolate chip cookies and hot cocoa! I use it 1 for 1 in place if sugar. Has a molasses taste but doesn't overpower. More expensive than sugar but great for special treats!

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Thanks for stopping by! I'd love to hear from you; especially how you're finding JOY in your kitchen.

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