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Is there a secret or formula when making desserts on how to not use standard sugar and substitute with maple syrup, honey, monk fruit or coconut sugar?

Fran's 7th Annual Valentines Spectacular

Fran Costigan - Fran's 7th Annual Valentines Spectacular

Recorded

This event was on February 8, 2023

Join us for Fran Costigan's 7th annual Valentine's Day Spectacular live event, where renowned pastry chef and vegan dessert expert Fran Costigan will be showcasing her delicious and indulgent plant-based creations. This year's event promises to be even more romantic and memorable, with a variety of sweet and savory treats. Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to treat your sweetheart (or yourself!) to the ultimate celebration of love and vegan desserts! Bring your questions and enjoy this annual event with Chef Fran!

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Question

Ann Smith

Is there a secret or formula when making desserts on how to not use standard sugar and substitute with maple syrup, honey, monk fruit or coconut sugar?

Answer

You just want to fit them to what you can have. So, you know for you an agar gel, which is something that we learn to make and essential vegan desserts. It's fabulous now, you can't Without doing a lot of subbing and really don't have to reinvent them wheel anymore. There are very good recipes out there. So you're not going to substitute by standard sugar. I believe. I'm sure that what Anne means is white sugar white cane sugar which has been bleached. And we don't use that at all in essential vegan desserts. We do use cane sugar we use unbleached. Vegan sugar which is light. Light tan or light blonde because it retains some of the Molasses inherent in the cane, but if you don't want to use cane sugar you're not going to substitute with maple syrup a lot of my recipes use both a granulated sweetener not white sugar and a sweeter like maple syrup, which is hygroscopic. So it really adds a lot of you know, your cakes Don't stale it's wonderful. I don't use honey and desserts. I don't use monk fruit. But I do use coconut sugar so you can definitely use coconut sugar and that is a one to one substitution now many coconut sugars are coarse I grind mine. I kind of powder them in my blender and then store them very airtight. with Food grade silica packets and the container well, let me show you. like this and it's marked coconut sugar with the date that I ground it.

Fran Costigan

Director of Vegan Pastry

FranCostigan.com

Fran Costigan is internationally renowned as the authority on vegan desserts. Trained at the New York Restaurant School and Natural Gourmet Institute, Fran was a chef in both traditional and vegan pastry kitchens before moving into teaching over 20 years ago. A lifelong chocoholic and long time vegan, Fran’s latest book, Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy Free Desserts, (Running Press 2013) is for all who madly, deeply love chocolate desserts, whether or not dietary considerations are an issue. Her previous cookbook, More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts Naturally (Book Publishing Company 2006) is the basis of the Costigan Vegan Baking Boot Camp Intensive®. For more information, www.francostigan.com.