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Sugar sugar baby – a guide to sugar alternatives

It doesn’t seem that long ago that the options when it came to sugar were white or brown. Maybe there was a packet of muscavado sugar languishing at the back of your mums cupboard for when the Christmas cake needed baking, and obviously there was the little clickers of splenda that someone had in their coffee because they ‘were trying to be good’.

Sugar is a natural substance that is derived from sugar cane. It is separated from the molasses and then washed and filtered. This process creates white sugar. Brown sugar is made by adding some of the molasses back into the white sugar. Raw sugar is the white sugar before it has been washed and filtered. Sugar gets a bad rep because excess amount of it confuse the body. It causes our blood sugar to spike as well as causing changes in our insulin response. It causes an acidic reaction in the body which is often blamed for many inflammatory illnesses.

Now sugar alternatives are everywhere and it is super confusing as to which ones are a healthy alternative but also how to substitute them in baking or cooking. I thought I would write a little guide to help us all out & keep checking back as I will keep on adding to it as I encounter and test out more alternatives. This is part 1…

HONEY

The original healthy alternative honey has a huge diversity in flavor allowing you to alter the end taste of recipes. When untreated it contains natural anti bacterial properties (which is why you can put it on a cut) as well as some B Vitamins and antioxidants. It is still high in sucrose though and will cause some blood sugar spike. This is my favorite go to raw honey with a mild taste which is perfect on porridge or in tea.

Best for: puddings, ice creams, gelato and in smoothies or tea. Can be used in very soft cakes & to top porridge, yoghurt etc

Cons: can’t be used where you need to cream ingredients as it doesn’t create the pockets of air that you need to create a rise so not great in traditional cakes like sponges.

MAPLE SYRUP

Made from the sap of maple trees (it is the trees natural anti freeze) it is suitable for plant based diets and is rich in calcium, iron and zinc (although raw honey contains more). You can get crystalized maple syrup too. Like honey it can’t be used in recipes that need you to cream ingredients. We love this 100% maple syrup on buckwheat pancakes with coconut butter.

Best for: caramels, sweets, puddings and gelato or on top of porridge or pancakes

Cons: can’t be used for creaming. Watch out that it is pure maple syrup as it can be mixed with artificial ingredients and fillers.

DATE SYRUP

Extracted from dates using a heating and pressing process it is natural product. Dates are known to cause less of a sugar spike thanks to their naturally low GI levels. As with any syrup you can’t use it where you need to cream but it is great in caramels with its rich taste. It is naturally high in iron and a good source of vitamins. You can easily make it yourself too. This stuff is addictive, amazing for sweetening yoghurt, making granola and eating off the spoon.

Best for: puddings, caramels,flapjacks, oat bars, soft cakes as well as a topping for porridge etc

Cons: it has a distinctive taste and can leave cakes very sticky

COCONUT SUGAR

Made from coconut blossoms (rather than coconuts), this sugar has a lower GI, contains some fibre and is softer than normal sugar. You can substitute it 1:1 in baking recipes that use traditional sugar. This one is the one I tend to use in baking and to top plant based creme caramels.

Best in: bakes that require a dryer texture. As it is a softer sugar you won’t get as much air which leads to a naturally denser bake.

Cons: can be very expensive and as it is not as sweet you often end up using more.

Once hailed as the golden alternative to sugar, this syrup has fallen from its spot lately. The harvesting of it causes damage to the environment as agave is a natural bat food. Less agave means less bats which means less pollination. It is naturally twenty times sweeter than sugar so you use less. It has a lower GI than sugar but contains high levels of fructose. This agave has a mild taste and is great when making granolas

Best in: smoothies, caramels, deserts

Cons: Can lead to sticky bakes so make sure to grease or line your tins/pans, also needs to be combined with fat to stop it separating

AGAVE

Once hailed as the golden alternative to sugar, this syrup has fallen from its spot lately. The harvesting of it causes damage to the environment as agave is a natural bat food. Less agave means less bats which means less pollination. It is naturally twenty times sweeter than sugar so you use less. It has a lower GI than sugar but contains high levels of fructose. This agave has a mild taste and is great when making granolas

Best in: smoothies, caramels, deserts

Cons: Can lead to sticky bakes so make sure to grease or line your tins/pans, also needs to be combined with fat to stop it separating

MOLASSES

Molasses is the left over product when white sugar has been evaporated from sugar cane. Blackstrap molasses has very high levels of iron and B vitamins. It is often used by breastfeeding women to boost their iron levels and milk supply. It is naturally acidic which means that when combined with baking soda, you get very light airy cakes. I used these molasses in ginger muffins and lactation cookies just after I had the little one and it was delicious.

Best in: gingerbread, granolas and savory dishes

Cons: has an intense taste and will overwhelm other flavours

FRUIT

Fruit is natures sugar and puree apple and grated fruit can easily sweeten a cake or granola. You can also get fruit syrups which can be used in the same way as date syrup or honey. They taste amazing and often have more vitamins. This one is my absolute favorite and I always stock up when i see it. Spices like cinnamon and vanilla can top porridge and yoghurts. Seasonal fruit tastes sweeter and roasting fruit caramelizes its natural sugars for extra sweetness. It’s really important to remember that sugar is sugar, even if it comes in the form of honey or from coconut blossom. Each alternative has its benefits but non of them can really be considered a health food. As with all things, eat them in moderation and be mindful.

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Mama on a Monday – Breakfast cookies

I would like to impart on my daughter my love of breakfast. It is without a doubt my favorite meal of the day. I can easily go with dinner but breakfast makes me happy. It doesn’t have to be big, in fact a large well made coffee and a bowl of berries is perfection, but it does have to taste damn good. There are so many foods that just seem better at breakfast. Soft scrambled eggs, buckwheat pancakes, fruit. Not to mention porridge, bircher and smoothies. The mini one is coming round to the idea of eating in the morning but she is also busy right now, so very very busy. She has just started to stand up and is trying to stand without holding on right now. Every surface needs to be explored and every book shelf needs to be attempted. This means that breakfast for her needs to be quick and for my piece of mind it needs to be nutritionally dense. Every mouthful needs to count.

These breakfast cookies are delicious. I enjoyed one, warm out the oven, baby on one hip, coffee out of short arms reach. They are hearty and naturally sweet. They taste of cinnamon and raisins but with the earthiness of oats.

Oats are a great breakfast food, they are easy to digest but they don’t raise the blood sugar and provide slow release energy. Cinnamon is naturally sweet which means you can use less sweetener and it also has the added benefit of being a great antioxidant. It can be an allergen so make sure you test first. I made 12 cookies from this batch but you could make smaller ‘snack’ size version too.

Depending what your little one likes you could add in apricots or dried berries. If nuts are tolerated then you can substitute one cup of oats for 1 cup of ground almonds or fold in some chopped nuts. You could even add desiccated coconut or orange zest. Customize as you fancy but most of all enjoy.

Ingredients (makes 12 large cookies)
2.5 cups oats (plus 2 tbsp for rolling)

2 tbsp maple syrup/date syrup

1 large banana

1 tbsp apple puree

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp raisins

Method
Preheat your oven to 170C

Place the banana, olive oil, apple puree & cinnamon into your food processor and blitz till pureed

Add in the oats and raisins and blitz unit you have a thick, sticky dough

Line a baking tray with baking paper

Place 2 tbsp of oats into a shallow dish

Using your hands shape spoonfuls of the dough into balls and roll in the oats

Place onto the lined baking tray

Bake for 30 mins flipping once

Enjoy

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German damson cake

What I love about Germany is that they really celebrate seasonal food. During white asparagus season little stalls pop up everywhere. Trays and trays of white asparagus are brought out each morning and are gone by the afternoon. The stalls are often little more than a road side table and carry only the prized white stalks and occasionally a packet of Hollandaise sauce and the odd homemade jar of jam. As strawberry season arrives, the stalls make room for the berries and then they seem to disappear until the next year. Here, close to the Alps, mushroom season is a huge deal and the first of the chanterelles have just started to appear. Kale is only around after the first frost but before the ground thaws.

Being that Germans love cake you can also follow the seasonal foods via what cake is in the bakery windows. Right now it is damson cake. Up north this is called ‘Zwetschen (damson) Kuchen (cake)’ but down here is ‘Zwetschgendatshi’. In Bavarian the word datshi means to squish. Traditionally when you make this cake you squish the damsons onto the cake base to allow the juice to soak in before baking. I buy this cake a lot just to sit and eat the roasted damsons off the top (the dog gets the cake base…which isn’t helping his diet). Damsons are in season now and at their most delicious but you could replicate this cake with greengages or plums. In a few weeks the damsons will be gone and in their place will be apricots (at the stalls and the bakery) and then come apples. I really appreciate that local seasonal food is embraced and enjoyed. And also that it then disappears until the next year when once again its arrival is celebrated with much fanfare.

When my good friend arrived at my doorstep with a huge punnet of damsons from her Aunty’s garden I knew that I wanted to try and replicate this delicious cake. You could layer it onto a thinly baked sponge, but keep the marzipan as it stops the cake from getting too soft. As with all things, this cake is best shared and even better enjoyed with a cup of coffee and a good chat.

Ingredients (base)
2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cardamon

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/4 plain flour

Method
Place the oats and flour into a blender and blend until the oats are finely chopped

Add in the spices and oil blend briefly

Add in the honey and blend until you have a thick sticky ball of dough

Place the dough onto a piece of baking paper and place a second sheet on top

Roll out the dough between the paper sheets into a rectangle until it is approx 2cm thick

Bake for 12-15 minutes

Once almost cool cut into 4 rectangles

Ingredients (Marzipan)
100g ground almonds

2tsp maple syrup

1 tsp rose water

Method
Combine all the ingredients in a blender and mix until you have a dough

Roll out on baking paper into a thin layer and cut into rectangles to fit onto the base rectangles

Place onto the biscuit base whilst the base is still slightly warm and allow to melt

Ingredients (damsons)
14 – 16 damson (halved and de stoned)

2 tbsp water

Method
Place the damsons cut side up into a baking dish with the water

Roast for 30 mins until soft

Allow to cool then layer onto the base

Enjoy

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Toasted coconut and maple double chocolate donuts

It seems a total cliche to need mum friends when you become a mum but I did & I do. There is some sort of solidarity in numbers. When you want nothing more than a glass of wine at 4pm, when another mum gave you a funny look at the Playpark, when your baby fell over at said Playpark because you were updating Instagram, it’s feels good to know that someone has your back.

There are days when it’s going wrong and you just need to share. For me, it’s the days when the baby is cranky & the house feels tinier by the second & you have run out of ideas. It’s those days when an invite to the swings is like a golden ticket. It’s the moments when you get to sit in someone’s else’s flat on the floor with a coffee & an hour passes quickly & you’re an hour closer to bed time & it all feels good again.

Seriously though, being a new mum, in a new city has been a culture shock. There are many times when I have missed my family, old friends and the simple ease of the familiar. When you’re tired you crave certain people, certain rituals, certain foods and when non of those things are available it feels harder. Somehow though, in the midst of all this I’ve found some mama friends here and quite frankly they rock! They have adopted me into their families. They have fed me, caffeinated me & dropped off gifts. They hug the baby with love. They have babies & children that are older and they are full of gentle advice. They hug me when I don’t want to hug my husband. They love wine & chocolate. They are happy to taste test my recipes & gossip about kardashians. They know when not to ring the doorbell & what time is nap time.

These donuts are for them. They are inspired by Fonuts in LA and I would love nothing more than to pack us mamas up and fly to the other side of the pond. We would get mani pedis. We would have brunch at Gjelina before shopping in the sun. We would drink coffee, swim & get fish tacos for lunch. We would head into town for most instagramable Fonuts. We would stock up on beauty products & perfectly tiny Frankie & Sue outfits. We would sleep in huge American beds with thier oversized pillows & have a lie in. Then we would fly home, because after one night our mama hearts would be longing for the little ones and we would be scrolling through our photo albums cooing.

These donuts are for them. As a big thank you for making these last 11 months happy & silly & fun. For everything they do for me. My piece of LA in Munich. These donuts are rich and brownie like but they are refined sugar free & vegan. I topped them with a simple glaze & then dipped them in ground pumpkin seeds & ground toasted coconut. You could also drizzle them with melted chocolate or top them with a coconut cream. They are totally delicious & the perfect size to have with a much needed strong coffee.

Ingredients
1.25 cups plain flour

0.25 cup cocoa powder

0.33 cup maple syrup

0.5 tsp baking soda

0.5 tsp baking powder

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

0.75 cup almond milk

0.25 cup rapeseed oil

Method
Preheat your oven to 180C

Combine all the dry ingredients then add in the wet ingredients and beat well

Pour into greased donut tray rings and place into the oven for 12-14 mins or until they feel springy to the touch

Allow to cool completely

To make the glaze:

Heat 1.5tbsp of coconut oil with 2tbsp maple syrup or honey and 2 tbsp cocoa powder. Dip the donuts into the glaze and then dip into toppings of your choice

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Nectarine and Pecan Baked Oatmeal

I’ve been making a concerted effort with breakfast this week. I often leave the house and halfway through the baby/dog walk/nursery drop off I realize I am starving. This being Munich, rather than London, there are not many ‘on the go’ options unless I fancy a croissant or a butter pretzel (I don’t). But then by the time I get home the hunger has somehow dissipated and I don’t get hangry until 11am when I basically eat lunch. This is not a great way to start the day, with a belly full of powerful coffee and nothing else.

I’ve been working hard to come up with easy, make ahead breakfasts. Ones that I can eat whilst the baby eats her breakfast (and throws berries at the dog). These nectarine and pecan baked oatmeals fit the bill perfectly. They work because you can vary the ingredients according to your tastebuds or what you have in the fridge. You can make them in individual portions or one big sharing dish to last the week. You can make them on a Sunday evening and enjoy them all week long. I’m thinking that you could even make them savory with roasted mushrooms, feta and spinach…as soon as I try, I’ll let you know. But for now I hope you enjoy the ease of these.

I used roasted nectarines because we had a glut of them sitting on the counter and even though they are in season, the ones we had were rock solid and showed no signs of softening. Roasting fruit brings out its natural sugars and I love the sweetness of the nectarines with the slightly bitter pecans. You can use any fruit and you don’t have to roast it first. Apples, pears, plums and peaches work well but equally you could just throw in a handful of fresh berries and call it a day.

Ingredients (6 servings)
4 sliced nectarines

1/2 cup pecans (chopped)

2 cups oats

1 tsp baking powder

2 flax eggs (or normal eggs)

2 tbsp melted coconut oil

6 tbsp maple syrup or date syrup

2 cups almond milk

Method
Place the wet ingredients (milk, oil, eggs, syrup) into a jug and whisk together.

Combine the oats, baking powder and nuts in a bowl.

In a baking dish (or individual dishes) begin by placing a layer of fruit then covering with the oat mix. Repeat the layering until you almost reach the top of the dish.

Pour over the liquid mix waiting to allow the oats to soak it up until all the liquid is absorbed.

Place onto a baking tray and bake for 40mins (single dish) or until golden brown.

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