|
http://www.lignepapilles.com/archive/2010/01/06/la-stevidanma-cuisine-ma-premiere-recettde-cookies/
I approached stevia rather timidly. My plants did not resist the cold in the South of France and faded. Thanks to the customers of The Cook- Shop who asked me for some, I resumed it .I received a stock of powered stevia. I chose the refined one because, those who had tried the green one, which comes from the mixed leaves, had found its taste hardly bearable.
The taste of stevia, that’s what we need to talk about.
For most of us , sugar has got no other flavour but that of sugar . It is our reference as regards sugar. That’s why we find no flavour tio it. Let’s think of a Columbian who would never have consumed sugar,but only stevia, since his early childhood. He would likely find that our good old sugar has a flavour. Why am I telling you this ? Because I think it is a matter of habit. Just like the sugar of the sugar cane in the rough (muscovado sugar, rapadura) has a flavour, stevia has got a flavour too. It is the same liquorice flavour as that of sugar.
I make no secret to you that this liquorice flavour is lingering. It stays in the mouth and it is the same with refined stevia, though less persistent; but you can’t ignore it.
It means that if you cannot stand liquorice, forget about stevia.It is not for you.If you like liquorice, you are more positioned to becoming a friend of stevia’s.
My first try with stevia was because I wanted a substitute for aspartame. Yes ! I had taken aspartame for years , at breakfast to sweeten my hot chocolaté( whether those who think that aspartame can cause sudden death like it or not) .I took aspartame for brekfast only and I quite naturally took my custom elsewhere.
So , after flavour comes…dosage…the other difficulty with stevia. It upsets all our landmarks.A pinch of stevia on the tip of the knife blade is enough ( Note that when you keep the flavour of liquorice in your mouth for a fullmorning, you quickly understand that you have to take it easy with stevia… ».
So, on this point, I admit that I don’t know yet if the flavour of liquorice every morning will turn me into an addict of it.I keep doing my own tests with stevia.
It was then high time I started cooking stevia.
All the liquid or semi-liquid preparations will be easy. For stewed fruits, flans, milk rice, yoghourts, creams, you will replace sugar with stevia, always a small quantity of it (1 level teaspoonful = 100 gr of sugar). Please note that stevia, like all sweeteners, does not give pastries the structure of sugar : it is not a colouring agent but a binding one. You will have to take this into considération when you replace sugar with stevia.
As I like difficulty, I made some cookies. They had a perfect texture : crispy on their sides, soft and mellow Inside. The taste of liquorice was still there long after eating them. But I must say that the children quite simply loved them. Who said I hid the stevia after hiding the veggies ?
For 11 cookies
117 Kcal per biscuit
75g powder almonds
35g flour
40g baby oats flakes
150g liquid cream
35g chocolaté chips
½ teaspoon of powder sugar
Heat the oven (180°C). Mix the dry ingredients : flour, almonds, stevia, oats flakes. Add the cream and the chocolaté chips. With two tablespoons, put the sticky pastry on baking paper or silpat.Bake for 25 minutes.
In my mind, the taste of stevia is something thay you choose deliberately : you have to fancy what your biscuits taste like with stevia as a spice and not as a substitute for sugar. Then you will be thrilled with it.
To know more on stevia : http://www.lignepapilles.com/archive/2009/02/12/sucrez-sans-calories-naturellement-la-stevia-la-plante-qui-sucre/ |
