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Authors: Joanne Chang

Baking with Less Sugar

BOOK: Baking with Less Sugar
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To Christopher, my everything.

Text copyright © 2015 by Joanne Chang.
Photographs copyright © 2015 by Joseph De Leo.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 978-1-4521-3960-9 (epub, mobi)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Data available.

ISBN 978-1-4521-3300-3 (hc)

Designed by Alice Chau

Food styling by Molly Shuster

Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, California 94107
www.chroniclebooks.com

CONTENTS

Introduction
8

Why low/no sugar?
11

What is low/no sugar?
15

What's behind the science of sweets?
17

How to stock your kitchen
20

Ingredients
20

Equipment
22

Tips
24

How to substitute for sugar
26

CHAPTER ONE
REDUCING WHITE SUGAR
31

Pear-Cardamom-Walnut Scones
32

Blueberry Bran Muffins
34

Cinnamon Sugar Monkey Bread
37

Better than Flour Famous Banana Bread
40

Fudgy Mascarpone Brownies
42

Cameron's Lemon-Polenta-Pistachio Buttons
44

White Chocolate–Cherry-Almond Cookies
47

Oatmeal-Raisin-Cranberry Cookies
50

Blueberry Nectarine Pie
52

Vanilla-Pecan Coffee Cake
56

Coconut Chiffon Cake with Coconut Glaze
59

Yellow Birthday Cake with Fluffy Chocolate Ganache Frosting
62

CHAPTER TWO
JUST CHOCOLATE
67

Chocolate-Orange Truffles
68

Simple Chocolate Mousse
70

Double Chocolate Whoopie Pies
72

Bittersweet Chocolate Pots de Crème
75

Chocolate Fudge–Bourbon Ice Cream
78

Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches
80

Mocha Shaved Ice with Vanilla Cream
84

Deep-Dark-Chocolate Pudding Cakes
87

Truffle Chocolate Cream Pie
88

CHAPTER THREE
USING HONEY
93

Honey Cashew Morning Buns
94

Cherry Almond Granola
97

Cranberry-Orange-Walnut Biscotti
98

Nutty-Seedy-Fruity Energy Bars
100

Banana Cinnamon Bread Pudding
103

Vanilla Honey Rice Pudding
104

Honey-Champagne Sabayon Parfaits with Fresh Berries
105

Raspberry Honey Frozen Yogurt
106

Peanut Butter Honey Cookies
108

Warm Apple-Raisin Crisp
110

Pain d'Épices
113

Fresh Peach Ricotta Tart
114

Lemon Ricotta Cupcakes with Fluffy Lemon Frosting
116

Honey-Almond Snack Cake
119

CHAPTER FOUR
BAKING WITH MAPLE SYRUP AND MOLASSES
123

Maple-Bacon-Cheddar Biscuits
124

Molasses Gingerbread
127

Cranberry-Cornmeal-Maple Bread
128

Pumpkin-Apple Spice Muffins
130

Keith's Super-Snappy Gingersnaps
132

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Maple Sauce
135

Old-Fashioned Indian Pudding
138

Maple Crème Caramel
140

Maple Pecan Ice Cream
142

Maple Cream Donuts
144

Pear-Maple Tarte Tatin
147

Maple-Pumpkin Pie
150

Apple-Walnut-Maple Cake
153

CHAPTER FIVE
FRUIT IS SWEET
155

Pumpkin-Walnut Cheesecake Bars
156

Pecan-Date Shortbread Cookies
158

Spiced Pear Turnovers
161

Strawberry Cream Cheese Fool
166

Coconut Tapioca with Pineapple, Mango, and Lime
169

Almond Milk Panna Cotta with Plum-Grape Compote
172

Orange Granita with Pears, Cranberries, and Citrus
174

Pineapple-Coconut-Banana Sorbet
177

Unbelievable Banana Ice Cream
178

Summer Peach Dumplings with Almonds and Whipped Cream
179

Mixed Berry Cobbler with Crème Fraîche
182

French Apple-Almond Crostata
184

Carrot-Pineapple Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
187

Kabocha Squash Spice Cake
191

Acknowledgments
193

Index
195

About the Author
201

INTRODUCTION

Life is sweet. It is. It's not always easy. It's not without ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies. But LIFE
IS
SWEET. Why do I make this declaration? Because I've taken these simple words, swallowed them whole, and used them as words to live by. For as long as I can remember, no matter what my mood or what I'm feeling, it only takes
a
bite of something wonderful and sweet to make all seem right in the world. Baking is my life and I choose it every day as my path and my passion. On some level, my life is simply that simple.

Every morning, I walk into Flour and I stop for a moment to take in the full breadth of our morning bake-off. It's fourteen years and running, and it still makes me giddy at how gorgeous a full counter of beautifully prepared baked goods can be. It never gets old. I look around and I truly want to eat
all
of it. The counter is overrun with warm brioche neatly arranged on serving trays, sugary fruity muffins piled high in baskets, chewy oversized cookies lined up on platters, comforting quick breads stacked one on top of another. I look to the bakers and see the most lovely faces—focused, serious, committed, sometimes silly, sometimes exhausted—and I think Willy Wonka is alive and well at Flour Bakery. I'm happy.

Maybe the complexities of life can't all be reduced to a cookie . . . but a well-made cookie can sure bring some music into it. For me, the connection between baking sweets and happiness runs long and strong and it is indelible. If you're holding this book, then that connection—sweetness and happiness—more than likely is a powerful one for you as well. Whether you start the day with coffee and a brioche, or reward yourself for making it through three-quarters of your work day with a cookie or half cupcake, or maybe you commemorate a friend's new venture with a gussied-up and decadent midnight chocolate cake—each of these situations shows how naturally we intertwine sweetness and happiness. Even in sorrow we might take refuge in a bowl (okay, pint) of Häagen-Dazs coffee. Sometimes the sweetness of that ice cream is exactly what it takes to wait out that agonizing soon-to-be ex's %#^$ phone call.

I am and always have been so committed to the notion that bringing sweetness into the world simply makes life better that I have made it my life's work. I had a more–than-stable and respectable job in business consulting. I traded it in to peddle pastry and desserts. NOT what you do when your parents immigrate to America, work their tails off to give you the best education on the planet, scrimp and save and sacrifice. No matter what I tried to focus on or what my parents subtly—or not so subtly—suggested (be a doctor, be a lawyer, what about medicine? what about law?), my dreams persistently ran to mounds of butter, mountains of flour, and ultimately, hills of sugar: the glorious trifecta of baked goods. It's such a part of my DNA to indulge in sweetness from the moment I wake up until I fall asleep that I made it my bakery's motto: Make Life Sweeter, Eat Dessert First!

A connection that runs just as deeply as that between sweetness and happiness is the relationship between sugar and sweetness. And, by the transitive property, then sugar must be the sine qua non of creating happiness, right? Well if
you're a classically trained pastry chef, then yes. Absolutely. Of course. Or at least so I thought.

BOOK: Baking with Less Sugar
12.01Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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