Dishing It Up!

by Victoria Mattson

Victoria Mattson is a local cook, confectionaire and writer. She offers healthy and nutritious recipes and food tips in each issue of North County Outlook. Phone (360) 658-9903 or e-mail victoria@northcountyoutlook.com.

Great news for those who want to reduce sugar intake yet still crave sweet things! Stevia is a zero-calorie natural sweetener that can be used in baked goods or to sweeten tea. Native to South America, the stevia plant has been used there as a sweetener for hundreds of years and is used as a sweetener in many Central and South American countries.

In the U.S., the FDA originally approved stevia as a "dietary supplement." In 2008, stevia was granted Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status, which has sparked increased focus on the sweetener and an assortment of new stevia products. Information on this natural alternative to sugar is becoming more readily available. Online information regarding stevia abounds, more recipes using stevia are being published, and I had my choice of any three Stevia cookbooks from the Marysville Public Library.

Stevia is 200-300 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia can be found in liquid or powdered form and varies in sweetness potency from one product to another. Typically, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of stevia replaces 1 cup of sugar. Follow the manufacturer's equivalency recommendation and your own sweetness preferences when determining how much stevia to use in place of sugar. Unlike artificial sweeteners, stevia can be heated to 400 degrees, so it can be successfully used in baked goods.

Experiment with substitutions in your favorite recipes, but keep a couple of rules in mind. When a recipe is altered to eliminate the sugar, bulk that would normally be provided by sugar must instead be supplied by other ingredients. For every cup of sugar that is replaced by stevia there should be 1/3 cup of liquid or other ingredients added to the recipe. Liquid substitutions can include yogurt, unsweetened applesauce or other fruit purees, egg whites, water or whatever liquid is already in the recipe.

Also, it is important to distribute the small amount of stevia evenly throughout the other ingredients. A good way to do this is to mix the stevia with liquid ingredients first.

I revamped my favorite Crispy Oatmeal Cookie recipe by replacing much of the sugar with stevia. The original recipe calls for 1 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar. Instead I used 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1 teaspoon powdered stevia. Since stevia does not brown like sugar does, I kept a bit of brown sugar in the batch to help with color. To replace the missing sugar bulk, I added 3 tablespoons of water and 3 more tablespoons of flour, which makes up the extra 1/3 cup mentioned above. For this entire batch, the calories from sugar have been reduced from 1200 calories to 200.

Crispy Oatmeal Cookies



1 stick butter, softened

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon powdered stevia

3 tablespoons warm water

1 egg, room temperature

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cup oatmeal (not instant)

1/2 cup chopped nuts or a combination of nuts and raisins



Preheat oven to 350 F. Toast oatmeal by spreading the oats flat on a cookie sheet and baking for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Stir 1 teaspoon stevia into 3 tablespoons water. Beat egg into water mixture and set aside. Combine butter and brown sugar and beat 1-2 minutes until well combined. Pour the egg/water mixture into the butter and continue to beat until well mixed.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add this to the butter/egg mixture and beat until completely mixed. Add the oatmeal and nuts and stir just until combined.

Roll 1 tablespoon dough into a ball and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Place cookies on baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Flatten each cookie into a disk about 2 inches across. Bake approximately 10 minutes or until the edges are slightly browned. Remove from oven and place the cookies on racks to cool.

Makes 36 cookies.

Victoria Mattson, co-owner of Let's Dish!, provides ready-to-cook meals for pick up or delivery. Phone 360-658-9903 or visit www.letsdish.com.