Baking mixes for diabetics

[JScott]

My 90 year old grandmother lives with me and i am her primary care taker. She is type II diabetic, but she loves sweets. I tried a number of recipes with different sweeteners and such, and couldn't come up with anything close to the real deal.

Then I discovered the Pillsbury sugar free cake mixes and sugar free frosting. They are amazing. In a blind taste test, I don't think I could tell the difference between the sugar free one and one with sugar. She been in the hospital for several weeks, and she's coming home later today, and I'm baking her favorite sugar free chocolate cake right now from one of those mixes.

My question is, does anybody know of any other sugar free baking mixes that are good? Like for cookies (esp. chocolate chip), or any sweet baked good really. All I can seem to find is gluten free and keto stuff. I don't need all that. I want real wheat flour, I don't give a rat's behind about keto, I just want a good sugar free chocolate cookie that I can make without having to combine five different sugar free sweeteners, and then it still turns out weird.

So does anybody know of such a baking mix I could try? Or does anybody have a tried and true from scratch sugar free recipe you adore? I don't mind going to the trouble of using multiple sugar substitutes if the result is good. I just hate to buy all that stuff and go to all that work, and then the cookies are like bricks.

So does anybody have any suggestions? Remember, I don't need gluten free or keto. I just need sugar free.

[DirtyCoconuts]

you may have a hard time without doing it from scratch- My wife used to be big on Atkins diet and we learned how to make everything low or no carb...the problem is that the ingredients are either A) a fairly large substitution or B) horrible stomach rending chemicals (Atkins people really need their malitol LOL)

the best thing to do is search for atkins or low carb recipes and I recall the Bob's red mill low carb mix was pretty decent


realize that the starches are the building blocks of the baked good and so things get dicey when you start to change. consistency is the biggest thing to change

good luck and you are a good, sweet, human being for not only DOING the work of caretaking, but doing it so thoughtfully and kindly... i to you


this link is just to show you the product, they are out

https://www.amazon.com/Bobs-Red-Mill.../dp/B0052OP4F0

[OrchidSue]

I am also diabetic and love cooking and baking. I have used the Pillsbury products and while they taste pretty good, I'm not wild about some of the ingredients in them.

I tend to make more items from scratch to have more control over the ingredients. In general I have just converted recipes with sugar and added sugar substitutes instead. My personal favorite combination is 1/2 erythritol (a sugar alcohol with much less or none of the digestive side effects) and 1/2 sucrolose (Splenda). The erythritol behaves more like sugar when baking but is less sweet than sugar. There is a new line of sugar alternatives called Swerve that I have been using and experimenting with. They have the best brown sugar alternative that I have ever found. However, that is not saying it is exactly the same as real sugar but the texture behaves like real brown sugar and the flavor is good. There are always trade-offs with special dietary concerns.

You might take a look at a website I have used in the past for sugar fee/low carb products: Netrition.com - The Internet's Premier Nutrition Superstore! . They have all kinds of low carb/ sugar free, etc. products. They even have some already prepared baked goods. You might find something that would meet your grandmother's needs.


Susan

[JScott]

Originally Posted by OrchidSue

I am also diabetic and love cooking and baking. I have used the Pillsbury products and while they taste pretty good, I'm not wild about some of the ingredients in them.

I tend to make more items from scratch to have more control over the ingredients. In general I have just converted recipes with sugar and added sugar substitutes instead. My personal favorite combination is 1/2 erythritol (a sugar alcohol with much less or none of the digestive side effects) and 1/2 sucrolose (Splenda). The erythritol behaves more like sugar when baking but is less sweet than sugar. There is a new line of sugar alternatives called Swerve that I have been using and experimenting with. They have the best brown sugar alternative that I have ever found. However, that is not saying it is exactly the same as real sugar but the texture behaves like real brown sugar and the flavor is good. There are always trade-offs with special dietary concerns.

You might take a look at a website I have used in the past for sugar fee/low carb products: Netrition.com - The Internet's Premier Nutrition Superstore! . They have all kinds of low carb/ sugar free, etc. products. They even have some already prepared baked goods. You might find something that would meet your grandmother's needs.


Susan

Thanks so much! Erythritol is what I usually use, but I never thought to combine it with splenda. And I'm glad you found a good brown sugar substitute. I've tried several, and none of them were worth eating. I guess I'll just have to start experimenting from scratch again, since the Pillsbury cake mixes are the only ones I've found that my grandma really likes. Like i said, everything else is keto or gluten free, so it's made with weird flours instead of regular wheat flour. I don't need flour substitutes. I can use regular all purpose wheat flour. It's the sugar I need to sub out. I'll take some of your tips into consideration and see what I can come up with. She'd love some chocolate chip cookies. I made some once, but they were like bricks. Sweet woman as she is, she ate every single one of them hahahahaha, but I couldn't stand them. Hopefully I can do better next time.

[Dollythehun]

My beautician uses Swerve exclusively and gives it rave reviews. Bless you JScott.