I grew up watching my grandma make "sugar syrup". It was 1 cup water to 1 1/2 cup sugar and then flavor with anything handy; and that was usually plain ole vanilla. From the time I started this diet I craved syrup, but resigned myself to the fruit variety, which is really pretty good especially when made with fresh fruit. But on pancakes it is still fruity and, sadly, not able to replace maple syrup for me.
A few months ago I hit upon the idea of making syrup using the sweeteners. Since 1/4 cup of Truvia is the sweetness of 1 cup of sugar I would make a simple syrup using 1 cup water and 1/4 cup Truvia and then by adding in a binder (xanthan gum or gluccie) I would have a "sugar syrup" type syrup. I also use SweetBlend in the maple syrup and just use less of it, of course. Then adjustments can be made for different flavorings and ingredients to turn this basic syrup into anything. Latte syrups, mocha's, and the list is almost endless. I have even converted recipes that use maple syrup using my maple syrup with very good success! So here is the link for my original Sugar Free Syrup!
In the process of making my Truvia masterpieces - I figured out a way to make it with xylitol too and have been meaning to do a separate post for that one too, so here it is... I have several reasons for separating these syrups!
One, is that I have noticed that my xylitol condiments last longer even at room temperature than their erythritol cousins. So I add it more and more to my ketchup, syrups etc but xylitol does have some caveats and pluses. Two, some people don't like stevia or, are allergic and xylitol is sweeter than erythritol, so that you can actually make it sweet enough without stevia or any other additive unless you want it in there, to save money, etc. Three, is that I have to warn you that you cannot share your xylitol sweets with your pets as they cannot process it and will be seriously harmed if they eat it. This warning is not necessary with erythritol based sweeteners like SweetBlend and Truvia. Four, if you have an allergy to corn- xylitol is made from corn or birch and fairly easy to get these days. I use a brand called Xyla for some in my hypersensitive family. Five, I wanted to tell you that xylitol can cause digestive problems in many people so just use it sparingly until you get used to it! Six, you might want to try to get used to it if you can because it has the closest flavor to sugar and it is much more heat stable so it can be used more like sugar too!
To make "the syrup" using xylitol:
Add 1/4-1/2 cup xylitol** to
1 cup hot water and
stir to dissolve.
*See note for alternate way to do this...
Add a pinch of salt, bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes.
Remove from the heat and WHISK in:
1/4-1/2 tsp xanthan gum
Keep whisking till it is fully incorporated into the HOT mixture.
* (I've used xanthan gum because my brand of gluccie gets slimey, but the new one from THM should be far superior to the Now brand so it will measure the same and be better for weight loss!)
Now add in:
1 tsp maple flavoring - I use Watkins from Wal-Mart
1/2 tsp high quality vanilla extract
Pour into a bottle after it gets cool and cap! That's it!
*Alternatively: The first time I made this I brought the water and sweetener to a boil and thickened it just like a real sugar syrup, and it was so good! But it crystalized the next morning so in order to be able to store it and use it in recipes I use the directions above... but I still remember the time I boiled it and made basically be the closest thing EVER to the real thing!
**Everyone is different on the sweetness they desire in their syrup. We prefer it at 1/3 cup but more can be used. Likewise some like it thicker. We prefer the 1/3 tsp on that so I included a range.
***I used one of my maple syrups to convert my Copycat Appleby's Maple Cream Sauce to sugar free and made the filling for this recipe and it is so good! When using the syrups as an ingredient, I back off the thickener to a max of 1/4 tsp per cup of syrup or it can affect the texture of the other recipe.
Nice Post!
ReplyDelete