Can Sugar-Substitutes Really Work in a Recipe?

Would you want to eat these “no-sugar” sugar cookies pictured? Yes, I said cookies. These are adapted from my fabulous sugar cookie recipe with only one change. The sugar was replaced in equal parts with sugar substitute.

This well known brand has a chocolate chip cookie on the front of the bag with the instructions to swap out the sugar for this product in a one to one ratio. This is what I ended up with as a result. This is not what the company promises will happen. They show a beautiful cookie displayed on their packaging that looks divine.

Comparing the Original Recipe to Sugar-Free Version

The same day I was making these sugar-free sugar “cookies,” I made the following batches with sugar. The cookies above are a great substitute for the original, aren’t they? Splenda cookies look just like regular ones! I’m afraid not. And they are quite sad looking substitutes.

But, let’s try them. Surely, they will taste delicious! Well…they didn’t. They were bland, horrible misshapen little things. They tasted more like a bread than a cookie. There wasn’t anything right about them. Several recipes have been attempted using this sugar substitute. Every single recipe failed.

Nutritional Deception in Some Products

So let’s talk about the cookie recipe on the packaging of Splenda. I went to their website and looked up how to make it. This was interesting. It’s telling you to use a sugar blend substitute instead of their sugar-free substitute.

And when you look at the carbohydrates and added sugars per teaspoon in comparison to regular sugar? It’s identical. Fifteen calories, four grams of carbohydrates and four grams of added sugar! This is literally no safer and perhaps less safe for you to eat than just grabbing a chocolate chip cookie from this recipe.

Let’s compare the two cookies. Which one is supposed to be marketed toward the dieter or diabetic? Would you believe the diet cookie has more calories, fat, sodium and sugar than the ones made on this website? In fact, there are six varieties of chocolate chip cookies that are healthier than these marketed toward those with health concerns.

Diabetics, Sugar Substitutes and Sweets

Now, let’s talk about the main reason why I don’t support using sugar-free substitutes such as Equal, Splenda, Sweet and Low, or Xylitol. These synthetic sweeteners do not resolve the other main issue with baked goods: the simple carbohydrates.

You may have removed sugar, but now you still have white flour in most recipes. Some recipes you can swap white flour for other grain flours less likely to cause a spike in blood sugar. But with most, you can’t. And simple carbohydrates can be just as dangerous as sugar to a diabetic. I will not willingly tell a diabetic that any of my recipes are safe for them to eat.

In fact, I will tell them they will vary from person to person and any recipe found on my website, whereas may be a healthier version than others, is likely unsafe for them to eat. The only true way to find out would be to speak to their doctors and ultimately try a recipe to see what happens to their glucose levels after ingestion. That can be a dangerous suggestion.

So if you are diabetic, like some of my beloved family members out there, do NOT use any of my recipes! Please refer to the American Diabetes Association or better yet, your Endocrinologist for nutritional advice and recipes.

In conclusion, this is a website that promotes making better decisions whenever possible by reducing sugars, calories and fat when appropriate. This website will never promote unhealthy lifestyle choices. The reality is, swapping out natural sugars for synthetics doesn’t solve the dietary restrictions of those with metabolic disorders and other medical conditions. Some sugar-free recipes are healthy, but not with synthetic sweeteners.