What can I say about sugar-free baked goods? I’m glad that sugar-free substitutes exist, so I can try my hand at experimenting with sugar-free baked goods.  People who can't have sugar want baked goods too #sweettreatsforeveryone. These are also gluten, dairy, and oil-free. I have also added a vegan version at the bottom of the recipe.  

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I hadn’t made anything sugar-free before my experimentation with sugar-free substitutes, so this was an adventure. There are so many options to choose from, so I bought a few different brands, and here are my findings.

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I wanted something that provided comparable sweetness without altering the recipe and without any artificial flavors, so I didn’t buy any artificial sweeteners.  I wanted something that tasted similar to regular sugar. When baking, some brands didn’t have any flavor, and I ended up using more sweetener than I would sugar. I learned it needed to be a dry brand of sugar, as liquid sweeteners offer little flavor in baked goods and, because they’re liquid, alter the recipe. After some time experimenting, I've found the most versatile sugar-free replacement is Whole Earth Sugar Free Replacement and Truvia. They are good for both baking and sweetening liquid beverages. Swerve is another good brand, but I personally only like it for baking.

Next, I had to experiment with the amount of sweetener in comparison to sugar. There are some brands that say they’re a 1 to 1 in baking with sugar. I’ve not really found that to be the case, in part because sugar itself isn’t always 1 to 1 they’re are different kinds of sugar and so interchanging granulated sugar for say maple syrup is going to be different, or so granulated sugar with coconut sugar isn’t 1 to 1, then it also depends on a person’s tastes where more or less sugar is required in a recipe because of tastes. However, I will say that you have to start somewhere, so in that case, it’s a good starting point, and you can adjust to your taste preferences as you go.  Some brands like Truvia are sweeter than sugar, so you need smaller amounts than you would for sugar, so keep that in mind as well.

For the purposes of this recipe, I used Swerve sugar-free replacement. I was just starting out making sugar-free baked goods, and they make the claim that it’s 1 to 1 measure-for-measure. I should also mention that by this point, I had been decreasing sugar in recipes to decrease my sugar intake in general, so I didn’t need a lot of sugar for my taste buds starting this recipe out.

To make this recipe, you’ll get all your necessities out. Mixing bowl, spoon, measuring cups, measuring spoons, a doughnut pan, and all the ingredients needed for this recipe.

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Preheat your oven to 350

If you want or need to keep this recipe completely oil-free, I recommend using a silicone doughnut pan, so they will pop out once cooled.  If you have a metal doughnut pan, then there will be a small amount of oil in the doughnuts because you’ll need to grease the pan either with canola oil or a non-stick spray.

Grease the pan if that’s what you have and set it aside.  In a bowl, add in the gluten-free flour ( good brands are either Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Flour, King Arthur Measure for Measure, or Glutino All-purpose flour if you can find it), baking powder, and salt, and give it a stir to combine. Add in the apple sauce and coconut cream and cut in with a fork to create coarse crumbs. It will look more like coarse dough crumbs. Add in the egg and water and mix to combine.

Pour the batter into the doughnut pan and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. It’s important that once you take the doughnuts out, you let them sit for at least 10 minutes to cool. Gluten-free baked goods tend to be doughy and can taste undercooked until cooled.

Add sugar-free icing if you desire, or eat them plain.

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Enjoy

Disclosure: There may be some affiliate links in this post and I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post, not all links are affiliate links, some are just to more Information about the topic. Thanks for supporting The Love Feast Kitchen 

Ingredients 

1 cup gluten free flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1 tbsp applesauce

1/3 cup coconut cream

2 tbsp swerve sugar free replacement

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup cherry pie filling

Directions

Preheat 350*

In a bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Add the applesauce and coconut cream and cut in to make coarse crumbs. Add egg and water and mix. Pour the doughnut batter into a 6-cavity doughnut pan (silicone for oil-free). Add cherry pie filling on the top of each doughnut and give it a swirl with a knife or tooth pick. Repeat with all doughnuts. Bake 15-20 mins

Vegan version - Omit Egg. Increase water to 1/2 cup and increase applesauce to 1/4 cup

If you want to drizzle over sugar free icing 

Vanilla Icing

1 cup swerve confectioners sugar

2-3 tbsp non dairy milk 

1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients for icing in a bowl. Stir until smooth, add more or less liquid to get a thick but pourable consistency. 

Enjoy 

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