Finally! Success with Splenda! Now with my new strategy I'm hoping for lots more success in the future. I'm adapting recipes from the book, The Splenda World of Sweetness. I had seen it in Barnes and Noble and borrowed it from the local library. We made blueberry muffins in class this week, and I decided to work from the Splenda blueberry muffin recipe in this book. I did make a few adjustments to the recipe and I've copied my adapted recipe at the bottom of this post.
I made raspberry muffins. I'm sure blueberry would have been just as successful, but I'm not a huge blueberry fan. However, I love raspberries. I used frozen raspberries, cake flour instead of all purpose, and twice the amount of eggs because after the final batter was mixed, I thought it was way too stiff. I could hardly mix in the frozen raspberries. Also, I coated the berries with a dusting of bread flour before adding them to the batter, although I'm not sure this step was necessary. A flour coating on frozen blueberries is a good idea so the batter does not turn purple; but with raspberries, I'm not sure it made a difference.
Here's how the final product turned out.
And they tasted just delicious! No strange Splenda fake sweetener taste. Great texture too. Maybe the added honey did it. If I make these again I will top the muffins with coarse sugar before baking. However, they are also quite scrumptous plain. Holding back on the course sugar would also keep the total sugar content lower. The only ingredient that contributes sugar would be the honey. I also might try spraying the inside of the liners with non-stick cooking spray. Here's a shot of the perfectly baked interior.
I took the opportunity to weigh ingredients, since I am working on my weight-volume converstions. Here are volumes and their equivalents using conversions from my textbook. The last weight is the measured weight of each ingredient which was scaled by volume. The cake flour and eggs are almost exact. However, the 1/4 c Splenda I measured out only weighted 7 grams, whereas the textbook says 1/4 c Splenda should weight 15 g. I will have to further investigate this discrepancy.
1/2 c flour = 69 g -- 68 g
1/4 c Splenda=15 g -- 7 g
1 large egg = 50 g -- 52g
Splenda Raspberry Muffins
yields 12 muffins
2 c cake flour
2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1/2 c soft butter
1 c Splenda, granulated
1/4 c honey
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 c 1% low-fat milk
1 c frozen raspberries
Makeup: The creaming method is used here. Cream butter. Then beat in Splenda and honey. Slowly beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir by hand flour mixture and milk in two parts, alternating between dry and liquid additions. Stir in raspberries. Spoon batter into paper lined muffin cups. Bake 33 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove from tins and cool on wire rack.
Note: By the following day, these muffins were much drier than the ones we made in class. I might try wrapping tightly in plastic wrap, or try substituting oil for the butter since oil will help keep moisture in the muffin.
I made raspberry muffins. I'm sure blueberry would have been just as successful, but I'm not a huge blueberry fan. However, I love raspberries. I used frozen raspberries, cake flour instead of all purpose, and twice the amount of eggs because after the final batter was mixed, I thought it was way too stiff. I could hardly mix in the frozen raspberries. Also, I coated the berries with a dusting of bread flour before adding them to the batter, although I'm not sure this step was necessary. A flour coating on frozen blueberries is a good idea so the batter does not turn purple; but with raspberries, I'm not sure it made a difference.
Here's how the final product turned out.
And they tasted just delicious! No strange Splenda fake sweetener taste. Great texture too. Maybe the added honey did it. If I make these again I will top the muffins with coarse sugar before baking. However, they are also quite scrumptous plain. Holding back on the course sugar would also keep the total sugar content lower. The only ingredient that contributes sugar would be the honey. I also might try spraying the inside of the liners with non-stick cooking spray. Here's a shot of the perfectly baked interior.
I took the opportunity to weigh ingredients, since I am working on my weight-volume converstions. Here are volumes and their equivalents using conversions from my textbook. The last weight is the measured weight of each ingredient which was scaled by volume. The cake flour and eggs are almost exact. However, the 1/4 c Splenda I measured out only weighted 7 grams, whereas the textbook says 1/4 c Splenda should weight 15 g. I will have to further investigate this discrepancy.
1/2 c flour = 69 g -- 68 g
1/4 c Splenda=15 g -- 7 g
1 large egg = 50 g -- 52g
Splenda Raspberry Muffins
yields 12 muffins
2 c cake flour
2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1/2 c soft butter
1 c Splenda, granulated
1/4 c honey
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 c 1% low-fat milk
1 c frozen raspberries
Makeup: The creaming method is used here. Cream butter. Then beat in Splenda and honey. Slowly beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir by hand flour mixture and milk in two parts, alternating between dry and liquid additions. Stir in raspberries. Spoon batter into paper lined muffin cups. Bake 33 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove from tins and cool on wire rack.
Note: By the following day, these muffins were much drier than the ones we made in class. I might try wrapping tightly in plastic wrap, or try substituting oil for the butter since oil will help keep moisture in the muffin.
YUM! These look awesome. =]
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