As registered dietitians, people are always asking us about sugar and want to know if there are any healthier alternatives for sweetening their desserts. Being girls who have always had more of a sweet tooth than a salt tooth, we do regularly indulge in a small sweet treat. It keeps us from feeling deprived and from wanting to devour an entire cake.
So, recently, we were excited to learn that some bakers are using something called coconut palm sugar.
Coconut palm sugar is made from the nectar of the coconut palm tree, so it’s all natural. And it has a low glycemic index (a measure of how food impacts blood sugar), unlike table sugar!
It has been shown that since coconut palm sugar is less chemically processed than other sugars, it has a greater amount of micronutrients. It’s also rich in vitamin B8 (inositol) and potassium—although we don’t suggest eating it in order to get your nutrients! It also tastes the most like regular sugar compared to other sweeteners, which is great! You can substitute coconut palm sugar for typical white sugar in baking and normal cooking at a 1:1 ratio. It has the same number of calories as sugar, but it’s less processed.
The downside is the price. It’s a lot more expensive than the regular white sugar you would use for baking. But since we don’t recommend eating large quantities of sugar anyway, it may be something you want to splurge on if you use it in small amounts. Want to test coconut palm sugar? Then try the yummy sugar alternative with these delicious Apple and Bran Muffins! Now you’ll have a tasty and healthier alternative to sugar if you want to conquer that sweet tooth craving.
Appley Bran Muffins
Serves: 12
Ingredients:
- ¾ cup whole-wheat flour
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¾ cup unprocessed wheat bran or oat bran
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten (We use Eggland’s Best eggs because they have 25% less saturated fat than other eggs)
- ½ cup almond milk or low-fat milk or soy milk
- ½ cup spiced apple butter
- ½ cup coconut palm sugar
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 3 tbsp light applesauce
- 1 cup finely diced, peeled apple; Fuji, Gala or apple of your choice
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray.
- Mix whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Then mix in the bran.
- In a large bowl, blend egg, milk, apple butter, brown sugar, oil and applesauce.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the the egg mixture. Add the diced apple to the bowl and stir lightly until just combined. Add batter into the muffin pan (the cups will be very full).
- Bake the muffins 18 to 22 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand in the pan for 5 minutes. Allow the muffins to cool before serving.
Makes 12 muffins: Per muffin: 168 calories, 6 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 28 g carbohydrate, 3 g protein, 3 g fiber, 13 g sugar, 113 mg sodium
Have you ever tried coconut palm sugar before? How have you used it?
The Nutrition Twins work with Eggland’s Best to help people get more nutrients from their food.
- ¾ cup whole-wheat flour
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¾ cup unprocessed wheat bran or oat bran
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- ½ cup almond milk or low-fat milk or soy milk
- ½ cup spiced apple butter
- ½ cup coconut palm sugar
- ¼ cup canola oil
- 3 tbsp light applesauce
- 1 cup finely diced, peeled apple; Fuji, Gala or apple of your choice
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray.
- Mix whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Then mix in the bran.
- In a large bowl, blend egg, milk, apple butter, brown sugar, oil and applesauce.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the the egg mixture. Add the diced apple to the bowl and stir lightly until just combined. Add batter into the muffin pan (the cups will be very full).
- Bake the muffins 18 to 22 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand in the pan for 5 minutes. Allow the muffins to cool before serving.
