Adventures in sugar-free cooking.

[errantember]

So one of the most painful things I'm supposed to be avoiding now is anything with cane sugar.

Take a deep breath.

Ok.

So I decided to try making the shortbread from The New Best Recipe with xylitol instead of sugar.
Xylitol is a naturally occurring (but certainly not naturally extracted, especially from corn) alcohol that tastes a lot like sugar, has 1/3 fewer calories, and doesn't promote tooth decay. In fact, it actually helps your teeth, because the bacteria that like to eat sugar *think* it's sugar, eat it, can't digest it, and starve to death.

Cool.

Anyway, it's supposed to be pound-for-pound substitutable for sugar, so I made some shortbread. The result tastes fairly similar, minus the subtle carmelized overtones present in the sugar-based version. The biggest problem, and the reason I can't call the operation a success (except as as test) is that the shortbread has *no* cookie-style crispiness at all. It's basically the consistency of a soft cookie. And the consistency change definitely fucks over the entire experience.

Any clues what else I could add to get the crispiness back?

Comments

[comodulate.livejournal.com]

There was an article in consumer reports about baking with different artificial sugars. I think splenda had the best results, but you might not be interested in eating it.

[terriblelynne.livejournal.com]

I was raised on a no-processed-cane-sugar diet and am very familiar with sugar substitutions...want to shoot me the recipe and see what I can make of it? I'd also be happy to shove some tried and true sugar free recipes your direction. :-)

[errantember.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

I'll definitely take you up on that.

[errantember.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link. When I first saw the post, I though it was just generally butter-related, but the fact that they are addressing several kinds of alternate sweetners is great!

[errantember.livejournal.com]

It's also interesting that they emphasize both softening and whipping the butter first in this recipe, as the one I've been using emphasizes the need to chop up the butter, mix it into the dough, *and* get it into the oven while the butter is still cold.