The Diabetic Pastry Chef

An excellent guide to traditional sugar substitutes is found here at About.com:

http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/bl010598b.htm?terms=artificial+sweeteners

1 c whipping cream, thoroughly chilled
2 to 3 T Splenda
1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat all ingredients in bowl with mixer until whipping cream thickens and soft peaks form. Yield: 2 cups.

The recipes I have submitted were adapted to my preferences and dietary needs. I encourage you to adapt them to yours. If you do not want to use white flour, I suggest you use the flour you are most comfortable with such as oat, soy or almond flour. You may prefer to use sour cream in place of yogurt, or Stevia in place of sugar, whole milk or lowfat milk, etc. This is all your choice. My recipes are only guidelines as to how to modify recipes to suit your dietary needs while retaining the most flavor.

I call my method of baking “Neo-Carb Baking,” as I combine traditional flours and recipes of the past with today’s low carb dieting.

Once you find a combination of flours you like and that bodes well with your blood sugar, you can mix and store your flours ahead of time if you wish. Just give it a good stir each time you use it.

I forgot to mention that sometimes I use soy milk in place of regular milk. For the most part, I like to keep the amount of eggs intact from the original recipe, but you may prefer to alter the eggs following the guidelines in the aforementioned egg substitution post.

Convert butter, shortening and margarine from your favorite recipes into canola oil, by using the following chart. This will make most of your baked goods moist with a soft texture, therefore if you want to make a cookie with a crisp texture, do not convert.

1 cup solid fat = 3/4 cup canola oil

3/4 cup solid fat = 2/3 cup canola oil

1/2 cup solid fat = 1/3 cup canola oil

1/4 cup solid fat = 3 Tablespoons canola oil

Other desserts besides pastries I enjoy are:

- Sugar-free Jello with whipped cream
- Sugar-free puddings with whipped cream
- No sugar added ice cream with chocolate sauce (see recipe below)

Chocolate Sauce

1 c Hershey’s cocoa (unsweetened)
2 c Splenda
1 1/4 c hot water
dash of salt
2 tsps vanilla

In saucepan, combine first four ingredients. Bring to boil and boil for 3 minutes until thickened. Add vanilla and stir. Serve warm over ice cream. Store in refrigerator.

I like to serve the chocolate sauce warm over ice cream topped with nuts and whipped cream.

Here’s a heads-up…

1.  Pillsbury’s reduced-sugar cake mix
I was just in my local supermarket and noticed that Pillsbury has both a yellow and chocolate cake mix with half the sugar of their regular cake mixes! The cake mixes contain Splenda.

2.  Sugar-Free frosting recipe
AllRecipes.com has a sugar-free frosting recipe that contains cream cheese and a box of sugar-free pudding as the sweetener. I haven’t tried the recipe yet, but it has received excellent ratings! Here’s the link: Sugar-Free Frosting

Serve with sugar-free ice cream and enjoy. 

Below is a link for another tasty frosting recipe that can be made diabetic-friendly by modifiying the recipe a bit.  Just substitute sugar-free pudding in the recipe for the regular vanilla pudding. I use regular whipped topping, as it has very little sugar.  Here’s the recipe:

Cool Whipped Frosting  (Be sure to read the reviews!)

This is scrumptious topped with sliced almonds!