Healthy Sweeteners (+ Easy To Make Fudgesicles): This fun, family-friendly recipe is a crowd pleaser that offers a delicious alternative to desserts made with refined sugar and other harmful ingredients.
By now we know that refined sugar is harmful to our health. In fact, a high-sugar diet has been associated with dangerous health conditions, like diabetes and heart disease. But cutting out sugar can be challenging especially for the kids.
Avoiding Refined Sugar
One way to reduce refined sugar at home is by introducing healthy sweeteners like organic coconut palm sugar, raw honey, maple syrup and bananas. These alternatives don’t spike our blood sugar levels like refined sugars do and taste delicious.
If you follow the blog you know I like to use organic coconut palm sugar when I bake. Organic coconut palm sugar is unrefined, vegan, non-GMO and has a 1:1 ratio when substituting for refined sugar (i.e. if a recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar you would subsitute for 1 cup of organic coconut palm sugar or coconut sugar instead).
Raw honey has a lower GI value than sugar, meaning that it does not raise blood sugar levels as quickly. Honey is sweeter than sugar, so you may use less of it. Bonus: Raw honey has numerous medicinal properties, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties to help fight infections from viruses, bacteria, and fungi.
Maple syrup is great to bake with. Replace 1 cup of white sugar with 3/4 cup of maple syrup and reduce by 3 tablespoons the other liquid content in the recipe for every cup of maple syrup used. Baking Tip: Because maple syrup is brown and granulated sugar is white, this replacement will darken your baked goods and cause them to brown quicker.
Bananas can be substituted for 1 cup sugar in your recipes. Combine 1 cup mashed, overripe bananas with a few tablespoons water then puree until smooth, adding water as needed to get a smooth consistency.
These are just some ways we can cut back on sugar at home! Try substituting sugar with one of these heathy sweeteners and let us know what you think.
Here’s an easy and delicious recipe for Fudgesicles made with bananas and maple syrup! Carolina loves making them with us. It’s a fun and healthy activity we do as a family.
BTW – I hope you guys had a chance to download a free copy of my e-cookbook. The e-book offers 25 family-friendly recipes that are easy to make, healthy and delicious.
Click here to get a free copy.
And! I’ll be at The Children’s Museum of The East End in the Hamptons this Saturday, May 11th from 10am-12pm celebrating Mother’s with a special pop-up baking class. I’m so excited to have partnered with ShineNYC to bring our FlipBox Mini Bakers this special event. For more information click visit the Events section of the blog or click here
Ok, now here’s the recipe! Until next week!
Easy To Make Fudgesicles
Ingredients
4 bananas
¾ nut butter
½ cup unsweetened almond milk
2 tbs cocoa powder
½ tsp vanilla powder (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
Instructions
Add all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the mix into popsicle molds and freeze.
Related links: Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Bars Dairy-Free Chocolate Raspberry Popsicles Gluten-Free and Refined-Sugar Free Raspberry Muffins