A healthier lifestyle begins with adding healthy ingredients to your pantry. The end goal of healthy living could be to combat diabetes, lose weight, have greater energy, or just live a healthier life. It may be easier to start out replacing meals for more healthy options, but eventually dessert will become problematic. Luckily, you can still keep a low-calorie count, and even stay on the keto diet, by using allulose sugar.
Allulose sugar is a simple sugar, unlike regular sugar it is quickly absorbed by your body. It also has 90% fewer calories then sucrose, or regular sugar. This means that it is very low calorie and can even be a zero-calorie ingredient if used in small amounts.
Allulose sugar is a great substitute for sugar in cakes, cookies, and other baked goods. It browns more quickly than regular sugar and doesn’t crystallize. It creates a smooth texture that works great for creams, syrups, and caramels. Unlike other replacement sugars like erythritol, it doesn’t create a cooling effect and allows you the same texture, and taste as regular sugar, with fewer calories.
There are some incredible benefits of using allulose sugar in baked goods. Start baking with allulose sugar and enjoy these prominent characteristics of this replacement sugar:
- Browning
- Texture
- Moisture
- Soluble
Browning
A cake that never browns will never have the finished appearance that most people desire. In addition to cakes, many baked products need to brown in order to have a completed look and texture that is desirable by consumers like you! This also means that when regular sugar is replaced with allulose, you can expect baked goods to brown more quickly.
Browning normally results in a slight caramelization of the baked good, meaning that the caramel-like taste can still be easily achieved by using allulose. If more flavor is desired, you can also add a little maple syrup or caramel flavoring. This helps enhances the flavor of the sugar.
Texture
The texture of a baked product is incredibly important. No one wants to eat a grainy cookie, or a chunky pudding. By replacing regular table sugar with allulose, you don’t have to compromise on the texture like you may have to with other replacement sugars.
Most sugars will crystallize when a change in temperature occurs, making a baked product feel crunchy. Allulose, on the other hand, does not crystallize. This makes it a really great option for candies, fillings, and toppings like meringue.
Another important consideration with texture is if the baked good is able to maintain the proper form. With some replacement sugars, you may get cookies that fall apart while trying to eat them, or cakes that are too hard. Fortunately, allulose is able to stick together flawlessly so that it doesn’t fall apart once the baked good is cooked. This is possible because allulose has such a similar structure to regular sugar and high fructose corn syrup.
Moisture & Solubility
Graininess occurs when your baked goods are made with sugar that is not soluble. Allulose is not grainy; therefore, it has the ability to blend with the liquids on your ingredient list. It is actually “more soluble than sucrose [regular sugar] over a wide range of temperatures.” Being soluble means that it will work great when you add flavoring or food coloring.
Allulose is also a great sugar option in order to maintain moisture in a baked product. If the characteristic of a cookie were chewy and soft when made with regular sugar, then it would also be chewy and soft when using allulose.
Other Characteristics
Not only is allulose great for baking, but it is also similar to regular sugar in its shelf life. It will not go bad. As a matter of fact, the FDA stated that allulose can last up to 9 months as a syrup form, and up to 26 months as a granulated sugar. This is very similar to regular sugar and means you can buy it in bulk and bake with if for a few years.
Combining Allulose with other Replacement Sugars
Since allulose has begun increasing in popularity, it has become common to use it in conjunction with another replacement sugar like monk fruit, or erythritol in order to get the benefits of each different type of sugar. For example, erythritol causes a slight cooling after in the taste and texture of a baked good, but when mixed with allulose, the effect is lessened and consumers are able to enjoy a low calorie, carb-free dessert without compromising the taste!
Check out This Recipe Using Allulose
Sugar Free Sprinkles has a great recipe for a Keto Lemon Cheesecake that has a Lemon Curd topping. The sugar used in the Lemon Curd Topping is a great example of the soluble, and smooth characteristics of allulose. The lemon curd topping calls for the following ingredients:
- 2/3 cup allulose
- ½ cup lemon juice
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 Tbsp heavy cream
- 2/3 cup butter
The meringue also calls for allulose and is a great example of the browning characteristic of allulose. The ingredients for the meringue are as follows:
- 4 egg whites
- 2/3 cup allulose
- 1 tsp vanilla