Splenda: Sweetness Without the Sugar Rush!

For several years I have been using a sugar substitute when I have iced tea out at a restaurant. What I have been using is Splenda. I decided to see f it would be possible to completely replace the refined sugar that I have always used at home with the Splenda.

I was surprised to discover that there are several different Splenda products. (I had not realized that until I went on this little sugar replacement journey) If you go up on the Splenda website (http://splenda.com) you will find links to them there.

Some of these products are: Splenda for cold beverages, in a package of 700 packets, as well as a 9.7 oz pourable package, and different flavors like lemon, and raspberry, Splenda for hot beverages with the same package types, and flavors like cinnamon, caramel, French vanilla and mocha.

There is even Splenda for baking. In addition to the regular Splenda for baking, they also have a Splenda sugar blend, which is half Splenda and half sugar. There is also a Brown Sugar Splenda blend. From my reading, Splenda is made from sugar, they just make chemical changes to it to remove the calories and carbohydrates.

When I have used Splenda for ice tea I usually only need a half a package to make the tea sweet enough. This is about the equivalent of two spoons of sugar, so if I do make the switch completely to Splenda, I should be cutting way down on the calories. Cutting down on carbs is not a bad idea either.

The taste of Splenda in coffee or tea is pretty much indistinguishable to that taste of sugar. I can't tell the difference anyway.

I decided to get some of the Splenda for baking and give it a try to see how that would work. I did some research on the internet, and found different views on the subject. Some said that it wouldn't work for baking, while others said to use strong flavors to cover up the taste of the Splenda.

I decided to try substituting Splenda for sugar in some brownies. I leaned from my research to combine the Splenda with the dry ingredients, and that you need the same amount of Splenda as sugar. I followed the recipe, and the brownies turned out quite well.

My father was diabetic before he passed away, and my doctor tells me that I am borderline. I have reached an age where a sugar substitute is becoming more of a necessity, than an affectation. Splenda tastes the same as sugar. Now isn't that sweet news?