6 Healthy Cookie Recipes Made with Brown Sugar Substitutes (2024)

FAQs

What is a healthy substitute for brown sugar in cookies? ›

Applesauce has long been used to help make baked goods healthier, either as a substitute for oil or for sugar. You can use it as a one-to-one substitute (1 cup applesauce for every cup of brown sugar). However, you will need to reduce the other liquids in the recipe by 2 tablespoons to account for the extra liquid.

Brown sugar, meanwhile, is dense and compacts easily, creating fewer air pockets during creaming—that means that there's less opportunity to entrap gas, creating cookies that rise less and spread more. With less moisture escaping via steam, they also stay moist and chewy.

A combination of white sugar and molasses is your best bet for a brown sugar substitute, as that's exactly what brown sugar is made of (1). To make your own light brown sugar, mix 1 cup, or 200 grams (g), of granulated white sugar with 1 tablespoon (tbsp.), or 15 milliliters (mL), of molasses.

In most baking recipes, you can substitute brown sugar for white sugar in a one-to-one ratio. So, if your recipe calls for one cup of white sugar, swap one cup of brown sugar. The sweetness level will be the same, but the brown sugar may change the texture of your baked goods.

Honey Or Syrup

General recommended substitution ratios are as follows: For every cup of sugar, you can replace it with a 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup of honey or 2/3 cup agave. If using maple syrup or molasses, 3/4 cup to 1 cup will do the trick.

Regarding the extra acidity of dark brown sugar, acid activates baking soda, so if you use dark brown sugar to make, say, cookies, your cookies will rise higher, but only slightly.

So is there a definitive answer to which is healthier, honey or sugar? Both should be consumed in limited amounts. Honey may have a slight edge, but excess consumption of either is more dangerous to your health than the advantage of choosing one over the other.

Granulated sugar

Using granulated white sugar will result in a flatter, crispier and lighter-colored cookie. Granulated sugar is hygroscopic, so it attracts and absorbs the liquid in the dough. This slows down the development of the gluten (flour), which makes the cookies crispier.

1:1 BROWN SUGAR REPLACEMENT: Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener matches the sweetness of brown sugar, helping you fill your kitchen with a healthy cup-for-cup alternative to ordinary baking ingredients.

While they are produced differently, resulting in distinct tastes, colors, and culinary uses, brown sugar is often simply processed white sugar with molasses. Contrary to common belief, they are nutritionally similar. Brown sugar contains slightly more minerals than white sugar but will not provide any health benefits.

Can brown sugar go bad? ›

Brown sugar essentially does not go bad (unless contaminants have gotten mixed in), making it ideal for buying in bulk if you do a lot of baking. Hardened sugar isn't bad. It's just in need of moisture. However, brown sugar will perform best if used within two years of purchase.

Butter gives flavor, tenderness and flaky layers to baked goods. It can also bring a bit of structure and rise. For instance, a chocolate chip cookie dough incorporates butter and sugar to incorporate air into the final result.

What Eggs Do in Baking Recipes. Eggs play an important role in everything from cakes and cookies to meringues and pastry cream — they create structure and stability within a batter, they help thicken and emulsify sauces and custards, they add moisture to cakes and other baked goods, and can even act as glue or glaze.

You can opt for coconut sugar, honey, maple syrup, and agave nectar, which are some good and healthy options. Another good option is shakkar, an unprocessed sugar rich in nutrients like zinc, iron, potassium, and magnesium. You can also use jaggery to sweeten up your desserts and beverages.

Brown sugar

Substitute: For one cup of brown sugar you can combine 1 cup of caster sugar combined with 2 tablespoons of maple syrup or golden syrup.

Demerara sugar granules are large and pale golden crystals that are often used as a sugar garnish and it's pretty to look at! The molasses content is around 1-2% so lower than brown sugar, but demerara sugar can still be used as a good alternative for brown sugar in baking, it will just have slightly less moisture.

For most recipes, maple syrup can easily be used to replace an equal amount of granulated white or brown sugar. To substitute for a cup of sugar, replace it with 1 cup of maple syrup and reduce the quantity of other liquids in the recipe by ¼ cup (60 ml) total. *This method works for most recipes.

Brown sugar has a glycemic index of 64, which is considered as high. While coconut sugar has a low GI of 35. This means that consuming the same amount of sugar will trigger a much-reduced response from your metabolic system (if you eat coconut sugar), helping you keep your blood sugar balanced more effectively.