Replacing Sugar with Honey?

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Dishwater.Hands

Assistant Cook
Joined
Aug 5, 2011
Messages
15
So I was hoping I could pick your brains on how to turn this into a diabetic friendly dessert. The reason I ask is because I volunteer at the local old folks home and we went out to this local restaurant that served this and everyone loved it. They loved it so much that they wanted more but it was very sugary. I want to find a way to give them this yummy treat again but not put them into a diabetic coma or get brow beaten by the nurses (whichever comes first!).

I'd like to try and substitute for honey if possible, was thinking that perhaps honey in the cream cheese would be very tasty.

1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup pumpkin pie filler
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar (optional)

1.) PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle towel with powdered sugar.
2.) COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.
3.) BAKE for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.
4.) BEAT cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.
 
Love the recipe! I'll bet everyone was drooling! Honey is still sugar. You might want to consider Stevia/Truvia, which they claim bakes well. Splenda does too. Pumpkin pie stuff, as opposed to pure pumpkin without, may also harbor some sugar.
 
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I wonder if it's available in Canada. I can't seem to find a clear answer on the almighty google machine. I guess I'll have to go looking. I am hesitant to put splenda in it just because I'm not crazy about the taste of the stuff or the look of it.
 
I am no expert on diabetic cooking. Others will chime in. I would worry about the powdered sugar too.

I used Splenda in some rhubarb sauce last night, and it was good. I also have used Truvia in my freezer pickles, with no discernable difference.
 
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I would imagine that Truvia/Stevia would be available worldwide. It is a bit sweeter than sugar, so you may want to taste before you put in the eggs.

What a nice thing you are doing!
 
Truvia is not food, it's a chemical created by two big corporations: Coca-Cola and Cargill. :sick: Splenda is pretty much the same thing; it is not cultivated, it does not grow in nature. They create Splenda by switching out select sugar molecules with chlorine molecules. :yuk: Please don't feed either to unsuspecting people. :(

Stevia is at least a natural substance and plant based. Honey, molasses, maple syrup and brown rice malt syrup are all viable substitutes for sugar depending on what you're baking.
 
Oh dear. Check out a site like WebMD, and plug in sweeteners for diabetics. Maybe some of the medical folks here could chime in.

My mom and an aunt were diabetic, no honey, molasses, etc.
 
Personally, I would give them a smaller portion. It's not just the sugar that gives diabetics the problem, it's the carbs as well and you aren't going to take out the flour, right?

My dad is a type 1 diabetic (insulin dependent) and he uses Splenda religiously. My mom bakes with it with no problems and little change in taste. Yes, it's chemically altered but so is the flour you are using, the pumpkin pie filler, and the margarine. Stevia is good but it is a whole lot more expensive and some people react poorly to it.

I think whatever you do, they will think it's awesome you made them such a yummy treat.

Just 2 more cents to add to your purse :).
 
I am no expert on diabetic cooking. Others will chime in. I would worry about the powdered sugar too.

I used Splenda in some rhubarb sauce last night, and it was good. I also have used Truvia in my freezer pickles, with no discernable difference.

Do you happen to have the recipe for your rhubarb sauce anywhere you can post it easily? I'd love to try it sometime.
 
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cjmobxnc said:
Do you happen to have the recipe for your rhubarb sauce anywhere you can post it easily? I'd love to try it sometime.

Yikes! I never use a recipe. Cut up rhubarb in 1/2 inch pieces. nuke or cook with Splenda,Truvia, honey, or sugar or a combo in a small amount of water. Stir frequently. Add a dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove, lemon zest or juice, or any other spice of your prefence if desired. Add more water as needed.
 
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I think you can cut all of the sugar used by half without any real harm to the recipe. The filling could probably be cut by 3/4's.

As far as the folks at the "old folks home", I would stay away from taking things that they should not have. IMHO it only makes it more difficult for them to maintain a steady diet of low concentrated sweets by kind of YoYoing between the concentrated sweets and the low. What they really crave is some human contact and a good conversation with people from the "outside". Take as many little kids as you can find and a couple of dogs, they will enjoy that more than the sweets.:LOL:
 
I am sure the nursing home has a dietician on call or hand and it would be best to ask that department. Trying to adjust a recipe that has as much carbs as this recipe has would seem almost impossible. Too often, well meaning folks try to make everyone happy and give them foods that are a no no for them. There just seems like there is just too much sugar in that recipe. For the majority of diabetic patients, thye best diet is low carb, sugar free. You really should clear any foods you bring to the nursing home with the medical staff to make sure it is one that the patients can safely have. A lot of patients have food allergies along with being a diabetic. Nuts come to mind. Some people can't even be around nuts without having a reaction.

And honey is pure sugar. Other foods that are on the NO list are any that end in 'ose.' Sucrose, dextrose, lactose, etc. Ose foods are just sugar in disguise.

So many times someone has offered me a food that I can't have. When I say I am a diabetic, I get the standard answer. "Oh my uncle is also, but he has sweets every so often. And it doesn't seem to hurt him." Well, I am not your uncle. And you can't see the damage it is doing inside.
 
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Seet Leaf stevia

I have been trying 'stevia' by Sweet Leaf, and it does have a bitter after taste if a lot is used.

But it's all natural....
 
I find Agave and Stevia have an astringent aftertaste that I just cannot tolerate. I'm working on reducing the amount of sugar I use gradually and am managing to reduce my intake that way. Now if I could just reduce my potato and pasta consumption, I would have my Diabetes under control...maybe.
 
Brussels sprouts

I have been baking Brussels sprouts with sprayed on oil and sprinkled with nutri yeast flakes, very good.

And I am making lots of chili without adding oil.


Now if I could just reduce my potato and pasta consumption, I would have my Diabetes under control...maybe.
 
Until just recently, I was handling my Diabetes very well with just diet. It has advanced beyond dietary control. Now I have to relearn new ways to eat, some of the ways just do not sound appetizing for someone who has been able to cook lots of variety with very little limitations. Nutri-flakes? those just do not appeal, I just work with what I have in the way of whole natural foods and limit the ones that make my blood sugars go up.

Thanks anyway!:yum:
 

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PrincessFiona60 said:
Until just recently, I was handling my Diabetes very well with just diet. It has advanced beyond dietary control. Now I have to relearn new ways to eat, some of the ways just do not sound appetizing for someone who has been able to cook lots of variety with very little limitations. Nutri-flakes? those just do not appeal, I just work with what I have in the way of whole natural foods and limit the ones that make my blood sugars go up.

Thanks anyway!:yum:

Your pic summarizes my feelings exactly, PF!

We got some organic blue agave syrup from Costco. I haven't used it in anything yet, but did taste it, I liked it. You use less than you would sugar. I also don't mind Truvia.
 
Your pic summarizes my feelings exactly, PF!

We got some organic blue agave syrup from Costco. I haven't used it in anything yet, but did taste it, I liked it. You use less than you would sugar. I also don't mind Truvia.

I learned to swallow them whole, so I would not have to taste them when I was a kid. Good training for all the meds I take now.
 
PrincessFiona60 said:
I learned to swallow them whole, so I would not have to taste them when I was a kid. Good training for all the meds I take now.

I always kept a big napkin on my lap, and used it frequently.
 
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