Knowledge Base > Fran Costigan - Holiday Dessert Prep Made Easy

Holiday Dessert Prep Made Easy

Fran Costigan - Holiday Dessert Prep Made Easy

This event was on Tuesday, December 02, 2025 at 1:00 pm Pacific, 4:00 pm Eastern

The big December holidays are coming and Chef Fran Costigan, Rouxbe Director of Vegan Pastry is ready to help with desserts that are both sensational and simple to make. From showsto… Read More.

Recorded

Question:

Can you suggest a dessert that’s sweetened with stevia, monk fruit, allulose, or another sugar‑free option (no honey or molasses sneaking in)?

— Kim Richardson

Answer:

I don't think you're gonna like my suggestion. Well, what I have to say, um, any dessert you can use any one of those non-sugar sweeteners. They're called NSS and um, but you're going to need to do some research because they are much sweeter than sugar. So you're gonna have to do some adjusting and you can't just take out a half a cup of something or a third a cup of something and use a tablespoon or two. They also bake very differently. I don't use any of them and I have had some live events. You can probably find them in the live event gallery, um, library. And they're just, I believe that all of these non-sugar sweeteners are so highly processed as to be a problem. So I don't use them. Um, and I am not making any judgements here. If people are happy with them, then go ahead and use them. Keep them away from your pets because some of them are deadly to pets and sometimes or frequently it is reported that they create digestive upset if you've been using them. Kim, go ahead. But I have all of them in my pantry. I have tried them all. I don't care for them. I don't like, uh, to me there's an aftertaste. I don't and I also believe there's too much processing.
Fran Costigan

Fran Costigan

Director of Vegan Pastry

FranCostigan.com