Sooz- What brand of stevia product are you using? That would help with finding or altering recipes for you. I have a number of stevia products and they all measure differently, and I use them differently. Some measure cup-for-cup for sugar and others would take 1/2 t.-1 t. for a recipe. I also have a the cookbook "Stevia - naturally sweet recipes for desserts, drinks and more!" by Rita DePuydt, but these recipes are NOT gluten-free (although I think there are some that could be converted to g-f all-purpose flour or almond meal). Helpful hints baking with stevia: *It helps if the recipe utilizes fruit, fruit juice/s, fruit sauces and purees, and dairy products (sour cream, cream cheese, yogurt, etc.). The fruit sugars help with the sweetness and disguise the "aftertaste" from stevia. You can use less stevia since the sugar in fruit also adds sweetness. The dairy products help keep the baked goods from drying out and lactose (a sugar) aids in some browning. *Refrigerate or freeze cookie dough for 4-hours or overnight before baking. The cookies will taste sweeter. *Add 1-3 T. of another sweetener such as date sugar, malt syrup, rice syrup, agave nectar, coconut (palm) nectar, or honey. These also help with browning. Since stevia doesn't brown like sugar, baked goods look anemic. It also doesn't tenderize or moisten baked goods. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Be sure to check out Paleo recipes and Low-Carb recipes. They are generally gluten-free (using almond flour and coconut flour) and use fruit (medjool dates, apple butter, applesauce, fruit spreads, etc) or low-glycemic yacon syrup, coconut nectar, palm sugar, stevia and other low-cal. chemical sweeteners. I've used Swerve (which is a brand name of Erythritol), but didn't care all that much for it. I thought it was used best with another low-carb sweetener like palm sugar or agave nectar. I avoid Splenda because I react to it. The link below is a sugar-free recipe I happen to have in the cookie jar right now. It calls for 1 T. agave nectar, but I usually use 2 T. coconut nectar (I make coconut nectar by melting 1-1/2 c. coconut palm sugar in 1/2 c. water on a warm burner). You could also use sugar-free honey in this recipe (I can find it at Wal-Mart), which is another sugar-free option for you. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Blueberry Coconut Pecan Breakfast Cookies

1. Most people experience an "aftertaste" when they switch to stevia. After a period of time you may become accustomed to that taste, so expect some time for your taste buds to adapt to the taste. Beverages are a good place to use stevia. -Using "Sun Crystals", which is a mixture of stevia and sugar may be a good way to transition. 2. It doesn't act like sugar in baked goods: -foods won't brown like they do with sugar (Maillard reaction) -it won't feed yeast to raise dough (although the flour in yeast breads has more than enough carbohydrates in it for that) -sugar adds tenderness to baked goods, so expect to find tougher textures -you may find recipes include not only stevia, but other "sugars" like date sugar, honey, fruit, fruit juices/sauces/purees, which are all a form of "sugar". So stevia isn't always a stand-alone sweetener. 3. Be sure to check the labels of stevia products. Some of them contain fillers and sweeteners. If you are low-carbing, this may be important to you. 4. The day after... Some things may not seem as sweet as when you used sugar and often will taste sweeter the day after they are made than right out of the oven. -Cranberries, which are extremely tart, need to soak in the stevia for a period of time. The longer it soaks, the sweeter it will get, so as much as an overnight soak may help with really tart foods. -Refrigerate or freeze cookie dough sweetened with stevia for several hours - or overnight - before baking. The dough/cookies will taste sweeter. Go ahead and make the dollops of dough and freeze them for even more convenience. -Refrigerate or freeze baked goods (it works best to portion them before freezing). The lack of sugar in recipes will cause them to dry out quickly - they won't be good "keepers". 5. You will have better results if you use recipes that were designed with stevia as the sweetener. After you get accustomed to those, you will be able to alter your favorite recipes. Check out: "Stevia" by Rita DePuydt And the link below has more information and recipes. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Stevia Extract In The Raw

OOOPS, I thought it was a commercial baking mix for pound cake sweetened with sugar/stevia. That changes things..... Sugar in baked goods has a lot of science to go along with it - especially in pound cake. Sugar not only brings sweetness, but it (along with fat) is a tenderizer. Anytime you reduce the amount of sugar you also sacrifice some tenderness and possibly some moistness. Because stevia only brings sweetness to the recipe, you will not get the exact results because it doesn't act as a tenderizer. In essence, you will be drastically reducing the amount of sugar. When it comes to pound cake, the structural elements (flour and eggs) need to be balanced with the structure "wreckers" (sugar and fat). If you have too much flour and/or eggs, the cake will be dry, and essentially you will not have the proper amount of sugar if you use it as a substitute cup-for-cup for sugar. By any chance are you following a recipe that is written specifically using the sugar/stevia blend? Check their web site for recipes to follow because they are going to increase your baking success because the recipes were designed to use the product. They may also have some helpful hints using it as a replacement in your regular recipes. Cakes sweetened with stevia tend to form surface cracks and often puff-up in the center, and occasionally collapse after you take them out of the oven. So if you are substituting this product in a favorite recipe, rather than one designed for it, you probably won't get the same results. You may need to reduce the baking temperature by 25-degrees F. - that's common when using stevia in a cake recipe. Make sure the eggs are at room temperature. Leftovers might tend to dry out or stale quickly, so keep them well-wrapped and plan to use them within a day or two at the most, or store them in the refrigerator or freezer. Sorry about the misunderstanding.... -Grainlady

I've never heard it called 'sweet honey leaf' before. It's sweet, but nothing 'honey' about it at all! I've been growing it for many years. It can be a bit cantankerous until you get the measure of it! It can die down in perfect conditions for no reason at all just to spite you, and then it will surprise you and come back anything up to a year later, totally out of the blue. It will always die down if you allow it to flower - I've learned to remove the flowers the instant I notice any. The seeds are notoriously unreliable, with only about 1% of them being viable, and they must be sown very fresh. You're best to buy an established plant for that reason. I have never had much success with taking cuttings, though it can in theory be propagated that way. It is a truly unique plant, with no known relatives. It is endangered in its original habitat (Paraguay), but it extensively cultivated, especially in Japan. It is one of the most heavily-researched herbs on the planet, and though scientists have been trying to kill off laboratory mice with it for years, they can't seem to manage it! It has been the subject of much controversy, especially in America where it was banned for a while. It was simply a matter of the FDA and Big Business wanting control over it and the Opposition coming up with some wild and woolly tales to try and get in on the act. If you want a giggle over Bureacracy Gone Mad, it's worth chasing up the story. Actually, I'm not keen on the taste at all - it has a sort of earthy aftertaste I find unpleasant, but some people like it. I keep it more as a novelty herb than anything else, and I harvest it and give it in powdered form to a friend who uses it occasionally. It is NOT to be considered a straight substitute for sugar, however. It doesn't dissolve in water like sugar so no good for meringues etc, and in things like jams it doesn't 'jell' or turn into toffee. It's more of a 'flavour additive' that gives sweetness. It can be added to baked goods (cakes etc) for sweetness, but your standard recipes won't taste quite the same. And you might end up with a green flecks through your dish if you use the leaves or leaf powder, much like parsley to look at! Here's how to use it. Remember that the sweetness level is different, depending on variables such as when it's harvested, where it's grown, climate and soil conditions etc. It can be anything from 6-600 times sweeter than sugar, taking these variables into account. Use dried, powdered leaves as a substitute for sugar. One tablespoon of stevia or less is equivalent to about 1 cup sugar. Some people notice a slight after-taste, while others do not. A liquid sweetener is made by pouring 1 litre boiling water over 1 tablespoon dried leaves and leaving to infuse. Refrigerate and use within a few days, or freeze for later. To make a syrup, place 4 teaspoons dried powdered leaves in a saucepan with 2 cups water, simmer slowly for 10-15 minutes. Cool and...