Sweets without the sugar
December 20, 2011 7:03 PM   Subscribe

Need recipes for sugar free (diabetic friendly) recipes for holiday treats: fudge, bars, cookies, what-have-you.

Everyone is enjoying delicious things this time of year & I just shipped out a load of traditional fudge & goodies to family across the miles. It got me to thinking about a very good friend who just exited the hospital after open heart surgery and he is diabetic. We also have a couple of other family members who are borderline diabetic that we'll be seeing next weekend. I'd like to put together some little gift packages of home-made holiday tasties: sweet things that are just like the sort of treats our moms & grandmas would make us, except, you know..... that won't kill the people we care about. I've seen this thread and this thread, but they don't really have what I'm looking for. I'm not looking for suggestions to just give them fruit, nuts, cheese, or things like that as "alternatives" to the desserts. (fwiw, friend's doctors have given the okay to eating sugar free things in moderation.) I'm hoping to find reliable recipes - that have been tried & verified as good - for tasty holiday goodies like candy, bars, & bite size sweets sans the sugar. Thanks!
posted by rpaxton to Food & Drink (7 answers total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
I picked up a free "Diabetes Focus" magazine at my local Safeway pharmacy last night. Its recipes for Mexican spiced chocolate cake, pumpkin pie, gingerbread cookies, and baklava, all made with Splenda are here.

Also, check out Splenda's website.
posted by neuron at 7:33 PM on December 20, 2011


Check out the Healthy Indulgences blog. The Low Carb Friends forum has a ton of recipes in its cooking section too.
posted by sunnychef88 at 7:54 PM on December 20, 2011


The buckeyes on Healthy Indulgences are great. I've tried them with Splenda and Truvia and they worked just as well as the sweeteners listed.
posted by sunnychef88 at 7:56 PM on December 20, 2011


Can he eat bananas? I tried looking it up online but there's no clear cut rule on banana consumption and diabetes. Anyway, I actually found this interesting fudge recipe last night as I was scouring the internet for dessert recipes. There's no added sugar, just the sugar from the banana. There's a chocolate version and other variations.

There's also this sugar-free cocoa mix recipe I want to try (I don't eat dairy, but you could easily adapt it to include milk ingredients, or you could just add the mix to hot milk). And some people get really creative with the packaging of hot cocoa as a gift.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 8:04 PM on December 20, 2011


Palm sugar and/or maple sugar can be substituted in lots of recipes for plain white sugar (although this works best when subbing in for brown sugar) and will help as both are low glycemic sweeteners. These substitutes are perfect for brownies and peanut butter cookies.

Substitute sorghum syrup and maple syrup in equal measure for molasses and you can make excellent gingerbread.

Also, using brown rice flour and whole wheat flour in equal measure as a substitute for white flour will also keep the glycemic index down. Just don't forget to add extra leavening (I'm vegan so I use baking soda and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar instead of eggs to get my cakes and quick breads to rise).
posted by devymetal at 9:52 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]


I also use ground flax plus a few tablespoons of hot water to bind baked goods together when using brown rice flour since I avoid eggs-- helpful tip even if you do use them.
posted by devymetal at 9:55 PM on December 20, 2011


Have you tried Chocoperfection? Sweet jesus, it's the greatest creation. 2g of carbs, no sugar, no sugar alcohols. It's extra-amazing melted and then frozen back to a solid, tastes like brownie matter.

Buy a pack of 12 bars and include 1 or 2 in every bag. Diabetics will appreciate the rare find of a really tasty chocolate bar without maltitol, which can mess with blood sugar.
posted by zoomorphic at 4:22 AM on December 21, 2011 [1 favorite]


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