Baking With Sweet Freedom

This week has been quite a tough one at work. On the weekend I was in the mood to bake some things to get me through the long hours ahead, and as I have given up refined sugar for lent, I needed a reliable sugar substitute to use. So, when browsing some of the blogs I follow, I was prompted by a few of the recipes on Gemsmaquillage to try out Sweet Freedom – an all natural sugar free syrup.

Sugar free syrups usually ring alarm bells in my head. I think of chemicals and weird things that aren't any better for me than actual sugar. But Sweet Freedom is made from 100% fruit, and I was pleased to see there were only three ingredients listed: apples, grapes & carob.

It tastes just like normal syrup, but with a fruity sweetness, and I like it. I made Joy the Baker's browned butter blueberry muffins and these 5 ingredient granola bars (replacing the sugar and honey with Sweet Freedom) and they both turned out really well.

The muffins were especially good. I really couldn't tell they had been made with a sugar substitute. They were just as soft, fluffy and flavoursome as regular muffins and I will definitely be making them again.

At £2.99 a bottle, Sweet Freedom isn't as cheap or long lasting as a bag of sugar, and I think I'll reserve it for a topping for my pancakes or porridge in future. However, considering it's all natural and impossible to taste the difference in baked goods, it's definitely a repurchase for me, and I'd recommend it to anyone trying to cut down on refined sugar who still wants a sweet treat with their morning (or afternoon) coffee. Have you tried Sweet Freedom before? What are your go to sugar substitutes in baking? You can find out more about Sweet Freedom here.

Loving: Milk & Cookies

What can cure a broken heart, a bad day, a falling out, ANYthing bad, better than a glass of milk and a cookie (or two)? 

This pair can solve a lot of problems together. They're pretty powerful like that. Ice cold milk and warm, fresh cookies. It's one of those great gifts God gave us to really, truly love.

Chew, sip, munch, swallow, all in the mouth of a happy, ok, sad or content person. Things feel a little lighter then.

Is there anything better? Let me know what you think. I have found my one and only. Nothing will ever compare to the comfort in milk and cookies in bed, watching a trashy (or educational) TV programme. In this case, Grey's Anatomy, a show I have started to watch out of sheer desperation (although I am actually enjoying it) as I am now caught up on all the episodes of Girls (woe of the week – why can't I write like Lena Dunham?)

Milk and cookies should be enjoyed alone, in the crunchy noise of your mind where you can hear control the chomp of your teeth on the cookie and cringe at the clank against the glass of milk. It takes total dedication and awareness to fully enjoy and appreciate it, to make it last – the whole experience.

So, get your jammies on, whip up a batch of cookies (or chuck some Marylands in the microwave for thirty seconds, I won't tell) and enjoy some good old fashioned comfort food. 

I used Joy the Baker's recipe for these cookies (I omitted the nuts). If you haven't discovered her blog yet, go and look at it right now! Some of the best recipes EVER are on her site, and she has a book too. It's very good.