Customer Reviews

Stevia: Naturally Sweet Recipes for Desserts, Drinks and More

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After realizing my addiction to cakes, cookies, brownies, and basically anything baked with sugar I knew I had to find a better way to eat my sweets without the sugar that was killing my pancreas and about to cause me diabetes.

When I was originally looking for a Stevia cookbook I first searched for "Stevia Cookbook" on Amazon and got a list of the few that exist. I then went to my local library and put them all on hold so I could read them and decide which one I wanted to buy. Stevia by Rita DePuydt was the winner and has been my go to dessert book for about a year now.

Of all the Stevia cookbooks I chose this one because all the recipes are designed to be healthy and the ingredients have some healing properties. Other Stevia books simply replaced all or half of the evil refined sugar with stevia while leaving all the fat and refined flours in the recipe.

Not in DePuydt's book! None of her recipes have sugar and they are all easily adaptable for people who prefer to be vegan, gluten-free, or dairy free. She replaces fat with apple butter/applesauce and she uses arrowroot powder instead of cornstarch. You'll see ingredients not found in conventional dessert books like tofu, agar-agar, date sugar, carob powder, brown rice flour, and soy flour. She also lists added sweeteners such as maple syrup, honey and molasses as optional. This book also differs from others of its kind because in the beginning it gives you the history and health benefits of Stevia. It tells you how to grow it, buy it, store it, and use it. The back of the book tells you how to use Stevia in place of sugar in your other cookbooks, substitutions for common ingredients, and measurements. You'll get food preparation tips, a shopping list, and a list of sources as to where to buy Stevia.

Here are some tips you'll need to know about using this book:

Be aware there is a learning curve in this book. I found that in the beginning I had to learn how to cook without sugar and how to properly combine and use ingredients I had never heard of.
Everything I've made with Stevia tastes better the next day so don't worry if the batter has a weird aftertaste since it goes away after a day in the fridge.
Consume desserts within 2-3 days because after that you will start tasting the aftertaste of Stevia. If you cant eat it in 3 days freeze it to keep it fresh.
Don't see using new ingredients as a hassle see it as a learning experience. Its worth it to keep that killer sugar of your body and besides, I came to love the tastes of these so called new ingredients more than the conventional ones. I can never go back!
You can be proud of yourself for using this book. You just cut your calories in half, your carbs by at least 1/3, and added protein and fiber to your diet. Also the desserts are so light you don't feel sick after eating them.

The recipes I've tried so far are very good. There is a lot of instructive information at the beginning of the book and in the appendices, but I don't know that I'll put much of that to use. You'll be able to do most of the recipes with powdered stevia extract, but quite a number of the recipes also call for other kinds of stevia extract. Additionally, some recipes call for honey or maple syrup, so it's not a cookbook that is 100% sugar free, but close. I'm disappointed that the recipes don't have pictures. I should've looked for that in the product descriptions while I was shopping.

Despite the lack of photographs with the recipes, I still rate this a 5 star book. Not only is it worth it for the recipes but the additional information contained within makes it a rare find! The Stevia facts, history and health benefits and products and uses were extremely informative as I am new to utilizing this product. The recipes contain the carbohydrate information which is what I am interested in as well. One factor that also sold me was the statement that Stevia is useful in healing a number of skin conditions (dermatitis and eczema for example) and I would have to agree, used in combination with the all natural Cream of Coco Face and Body Bar Soap, seeing/feeling the results for myself. There is also a section on growing Stevia. There is a product directory and sources of Stevia products as well. I highly recommend this book.

wow!! Awesome book. Great practical recipes.Everything I have tried so far has been wonderful . Would recommend this book.

This is a great book if you are into cooking naturally and are wanting to start cooking with stevia!

While this cookbook has plenty of recipes represented, I was a bit disappointed at the multiple types of sweeteners used in conjunction with the stevia. It a good general cookbook.

This books seemed good enough. My biggest gripe, too many ingredients and too many "exotic" ingredients. I bought hoping for some low sugar alternative recipes. With all the "extra" ingredients you have to buy, it's a bit counterproductive in that department. Plus, most of the ingredients recipes call for are not available in my small town.

I bought this as a gift to go with some stevia sweetener and I plan to get one for myself. I just flipped through it but was pleasantly surprised with the interesting data. I do a lot of baking & cooking including using a variety of sweeteners (coconut sap sugar, maple sprinkles, brown rice syrup & other sugars). I am new to using stevia & Z Sweet (Erythritol) and this book is the one I need.

I was interested in starting to cook sugar-free. I'm totally impressed! My husband is very picky and he enjoys these recipes. Additionally, I cook for four children who also enjoyed these recipes. True, some of the recipes call for additional sweetners, but it's a small price to pay for knowing exactly what's going into your sugar-free product. Using ingenuity, I am able to substitute what I have on hand to make these recipes a leaping success. For example, it calls for date sugar, so I read the product information on what it is (contained within the book) and determined finely dicing dates would produce a similar result. It is simply marvelous! I love this book and found it to be great. I hope to find more great recipes contained within.

I'm ready for my Stevia plant(you can mail order from Territorial Seed Co.)to get large enough to use so that I can try some of these recipes.