Monday, March 1, 2010

Stevia?

Yes, "stevia?" not "stevia." "Question mark" because I wanna know how the world feels about it.  =]

I'm...on the fence. Recently I made pumpkin cheesecake (ok, like 4months ago). And I used stevia. (Not stevia? in this case.)

 

The usual suspects:
*1 pack MoriNu silken tofu
*5-6oz vegan cream cheese
*1 tsp vanilla extract
*1 can (14oz) cooked pumpkin
*dash of stevia
*graham cracker crust (crushed graham crackers, oil of some kind)

Pretty sure that was it. Simple. Looks nice.




 


Tastes...chemically.  =\  Not very sweet. Not normal sweet. At least to me. In teas, I like it, and have no problems with the taste. Maybe stevia is just not meant for (baking and) such rich, luscious desserts as cheesecake. More along the lines of


I tried to improve the taste with some banana butter as a whipped-like topping

 


But it turns out I don't like that much, either.

On a totally unpredictable note, my husband, the anti-vegan, liked it. Go figure!

2 comments:

  1. I've used my SweetLeaf brand of stevia in baking chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, cranberry orange muffins, and peanut butter chocolate chip muffins and they all turned out fine! Of course, having a cookbook dedicated to baking with stevia helps. You need to add another ingredient to the recipre to make up for lost bulk you would've gotten from sugar, and I've learned that when it comes to stevia. it's important to add it to the recipe to taste. But it works! In fact, in the same book I have a recipe for cheesecake with a straberry topping that I want to try! May be you needed a little more bulk and a little more stevia. Also, I should note that not all brands are the same, and I think the brand can make a huge difference!

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  2. I forgot that I added Tofutti cream cheese and vanilla extract, but I think you're right -- I just didn't have the bulk that regular sugar wold have given me.

    Might be time to invest in a cookbook and learn the art of cooking with it, and I think there are stevia brands better suited for baking.

    Thanks!

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