Customer Reviews

The Stevia Cookbook: Cooking with Nature's Calorie-Free Sweetener

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I started using Stevia to reduce the amount of sugar and artificial sweeteners my family uses. It is fairly straight forward to replace sugar/Equal with Stevia in coffee, homemade salad dressings and sauces. But I was having lots of trouble with baked goods. So I THOUGHT one good cookbook could replace my expermenting. This book doesn't seem to be the one.

First problem: Not really over 100 recipes. Does anyone really need a recipe for sweetening your coffee, making hot cocoa or lemonade? How about a recipe for making whipped cream (whip cream and stevia until soft peaks form)?

Second problem: Not very many baked goods recipes: only 3 cake recipes, 2 muffin recipes, 9 cookie recipes. These are the types of recipes where subbing Stevia for sugar is very difficult and where even 2 or 3 GOOD recipes would be very useful for most cooks.

Third problem: Even these few recipes are not very good. For the time and effort involved in home cooking, what you make should be healthy and at least as good tasting as what you can buy at a grocery. I've tried 3 recipes from this book - the "best" result was the Chocolate Mini Muffins. When I read the recipe I thought it looked ALOT like a biscuit recipe. Well the result was a slightly sweet sort-of-choclate biscuit baked in a muffin tin NOT a muffin. It was OK I ate one, the kids toke a bite of one each and we threw out the other 20. I really expect a cookbook author or even anyone who even rarely bakes to know the difference between a biscuit and a muffin.

Don't waste your money on this book.

Being new to stevia and very confused about how to cook with it, the types of stevia available and the sugar/stevia conversion proportions, I was eager to get this book. I was very disappointed. First off, the book seems light on both information about stevia and recipes. But more important, as a few other reviewers have noted, the recipes that are contained in the book are either so unappealing you have no desire to make them, or don't taste very good once you do make them. For example, I wanted a few good pudding recipes. The butterscotch pudding contains 4 cups of yams. The lemon pudding has yellow squash as its base. Now, I'm all for vegetables, but when I'm eating dessert, I want dessert. Not squash puree. I made a spaghetti squash recipe that had proportionally so much stevia it was sickening. I'm a good and experienced cook. These recipes were awful. Not recommended.

Here's a book that tells you everything you need to know in an organized format, anticipates and answers your questions and concerns, tells you the truth about what stevia can and cannot do, so you avoid disappointments. In addition, the authors give you options of using all stevia, mixing with other sweetners, or using only sugar in some recipies.

As a healthy eater, I have been using alternative natural sweetners for years (Dr. Bonner's Barleymalt Sweetner, for example), yet never was there a cookbook. Dr. Bonner's stopped making their sweetner, so I am on to stevia and the recipies in this book are fabulous.

Buy it for the tantalizing salad dressings alone. Not only are the recipes good, they are unique, like the cucumber salad and the Green and White Jade Salad.

As a vegetarian who does not eat eggs, I was so happy to see an egg-free, no-bake pumpkin pie recipe! Yum!

Sugar does so many awful things to our bodies and our minds, it serves everyone to at least give the stevia product and this marvelous cookbook a chance.

PS Even if you fail to fall in love with stevia, buy this book for the recipes and substitute other sweetners, which they suggest.

I shuddered when I read you kept adding more stevia to get the right consistency. No wonder it was inedible! Instead of sweetening, too much stevia leaves a strong bitter taste. Three suggestions: 1) What the books don't tell you because it happens after they're published is that THE CONCENTRATION OF STEVIA KEEPS IMPROVING OVER TIME, so the sweetening power of 1 tsp of stevia when the book was published in 1999 is much less than what 1 tsp of stevia will sweeten today. Stevia is my primary sweetener and I always start out with 1/3 - 1/2 of what a recipe calls for. You can always increase it if it's not sweet enough, but if you use too much, it truly is inedible. 2) Use a stevia blend. It's not as concentrated so is not as exacting in measurment and easier to work with. 3)As much as possible, mix the stevia thoroughly with either just the liquid or just the dry ingredients. If you just throw all ingredients in together, the stevia tends to not be mixed in evenly. I don't own this particular book--yet. I do own three others (Low-Carb Cooking with Stevia by James Kirkland; Sugar-Free Cooking with Stevia by James and Tanya Kirkland; and Stevia Sweet Recipes by Jeffrey Goettemoeller--the Kirkland books being my favorites.) What I've found is that every cookbook has some recipes that turn out well and others that are just not for me. As I look at the contents of this book there are unique recipes not in the others I own that look interesting. As to the person who said the chocolate muffins were more like chocolate biscuits. That happens sometimes. Some people won't mind that the consistency is like biscuits. If you do, that one's not for you. Keep trying things. Lack of sugar does greatly affect consistency of baked goods and few recipes will be exactly like their sugar counterparts.

This is absolutely the best book on cooking with stevia. There are over 100 delicious recipes using this remarkable substance that won't cause cavities and suitable for everyone including diabetics & children.

The author starts out with a history of stevia. Next, safety, health benefits and the many forms it comes in are discussed. Then tips on using stevia; its pros & cons; & conversion rates are given.

Recipes follow. These include breakfasts, salads, dressings, main dishes, toppings, cakes, pies, candy, cookies, ice cream, puddings, & beverages. Some of my favorite recipes are the sweet cream corn & lemonade.

I also love the apple crepes, chocolate muffins, & chocolate cream cheese frosting. Unlike other stevia cookbook, this one contains resource list on where to buy stevia & other rare ingredients that are used.

It's time consumers begin demanding stevia on tabletops in restaurants. The first part of this book is a convincing argument for the use of stevia over aspartame, saccharin, and reducing the amount of sugar in the diet. The authors also give great tips on how to make your own concentrated liquid from the leaves or the powdered versions of stevia. I hope all persons who are interested in their own and their family and friends' health will read and use the information in this book.

The Stevia Cookbook has been an invaluable resource in my ongoing quest to improve the nutrional quality of my family's diet. Trying to reduce the volume of sugar my children eat has not been easy;however, The Stevia Cookbook has changed all that! For example, I served the "Chocolate Chip Cookies" and they were devoured. My children never suspected that there had been a "substitution." The recipes are deliciouse and rewarding to serve.

The Chocolate chip cookies were wonderful. Who ever wrote the last reveiw must have cooked them wrong. Stevia is a saviour for me. This book helps get sugar out of my life. Thank You Donna Gates, another great book.

Perhaps it's because I'm new to stevia, but I haven't had one recipe from this book turn out. I'm wondering if I'm using the "wrong kind" of stevia. Even after the explanations given in the book of the different types of stevia forms, I'm unclear on just which of those forms I'm using compared to what is being used in the book. It might be more useful to actually give brand names so those of us who are beginners have a better chance of success. As it is, I've had to throw away everything I've tried so far because, not only were they not sweet, they tasted just plain nasty. My most recent attempt was the Dark Chocolate Almond Clusters. As soon as I added the orange rind the chocolate turned into a thick clump. Then I kept trying to add more and more and more stevia to it, even though it was now very difficult to stir. It never became even close enough to "sweet" to be edible. Again, I just threw it away. I don't have enough confidence in baking with stevia now to even attempt any more of the recipes.

I haven't tried this book, I used the "Low-Carb Cooking with Stevia" by James Kirkland. Pure stevia does not have an aftertaste when used in correct quantities. I'm sure those who got headaches had stevia with fillers. This is evidenced by the fact that they had to use a lot more "stevia." NO way! Pure Stevia sweetens with an incredibly small quantity, leaves no aftertaste, and does not produce headaches. Many people have tried the recipes I made from Kirkland's book. They can't believe there's no sugar in them! You have to convince a real heath food store to carry pure stevia. Too many people have tried the green powder (ugh!) or the stevia with fillers. Once you try the good stuff you'll never go back to sugar or Splenda!