Last weekend something happened that hasn’t happened during my adult years of living on my own. I went to make some No Bake Cookies only to discover, gasp, I didn’t have enough sugar to do so. I needed four cups and I only had two. Usually I have a bag in reserve, always. Not this time.
Honestly, it was early and I just didn’t feel like going to the store right then. I remembered after a moment of deciding on a game plan, there was a bag of Splenda in reserve. Since I sometimes bake for my friends with diabetes, I keep a bag on hand. The bag does say it can be substituted one-to-one for regular sugar, so, I thought I’d take its word for it and use it as a substitute.
Let me just spoil it up front. It doesn’t substitute one-to-one. Maybe there is something in very small print that says it USUALLY is a 1:1 substitute, but I didn’t see it. All I know is my cookies turned out less than stellar. To me, they were so bad I was embarrassed to even serve them to any one. I know what my no bakes should look like and it was not what turned out.
Mind you, my family said they were fine with them. They said they were good, just not the same as my usual. Because I knew they weren’t up to par, I went and bought sugar to make them again. In looking at which ones are being eaten, I’m sure you can guess which batch has fewer cookies than the other.
As I’m sure you guessed, it was the usual cookie recipe that is being eaten like there is no tomorrow. The Splenda batch is still going strong. If anyone has eaten any of them, I sure can’t see it.
Cooking and baking is all about trying new things to see if they work or don’t. But if a product says it will substitute, then I do expect it to substitute as indicated on the product. Let me just offer my suggestion and guidance, don’t trust Splenda to actually work 1:1 in a recipe. Just take the time to go buy some sugar. Don’t learn the hard way as I did.
Here is a picture of them side-by-side, left is Splenda, right is sugar. Which one would you eat?
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 