It’s no secret that I love sugar. Cookies, cakes, chocolate, anything with that sweet kick to the mouth and I’m in heaven. I don’t however, love fake sugar or anything claiming to be a healthier alternative to sugar. Don’t even try to offer me Splenda, Equal, or even Stevia. Stevia tastes just as bad as the dirt it’s grown from. Blech. Nothing beats the real deal as long as it’s raw and pure. Also, it’s all about the balance..sugar doesn’t make you unhealthy if it’s consumed responsibly, so why eat the shit your body doesn’t recognize? Beats me.
With that said, there is one sugar “alternative” that I was willing to try: Xylitol. Heard of it?? It’s what is used to sweeten your gum and toothpaste and gives that minty cool feeling. Sugar alcohols don’t affect your teeth, but they do have one major side effect: Diarrhea. This could be good and bad…just hear me out. Knowing that if you eat too much and could get diarrhea, this could help to keep your paws out of the cookie jar eating too many cookies. A little help getting rid of waste never hurt anyone right? Kidding..sorta.
I was asked to do a review of a Canadian company’s Xylitol product. While I still swear by real sugar, I was happy to give this stuff a try.
I do have to disagree with the words at the top, if eating sweets gives you guilt, you’ve got bigger issues than needing fake sugars. BALANCE PEOPLE! If you don’t think you earned the sweet, DON’T EAT IT! No need to feel guilty! This stuff looked like sugar, and tasted sweet with a cooling after taste..in a good way! I also was given some candies, and gum.
No complaints. I loved all of the candies, and I am obsessed with the gum!! This is the kind of gum that you chew so obnoxiously because the flavor is SO good and you just can’t get enough. This might explain why I have no friends..
Now I just needed to BAKE with the Xylitol to see how it tasted in a cookie.
Chocolate Chip Cookie
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup melted coconut oil
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup xyla
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 1.5 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, cream together the melted coconut oil, brown sugar and xyla until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, and applesauce until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
- Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted.
So how did they taste?? Amazing, just as if I used real sugar. The xylitol didn’t alter the flavor of these at all. I can’t say the same for stevia, seriously baking with stevia is like chewing on nails. Horiffic.
If you are interested in using xylitol I would recommend doing your research before using a lot of it. Overall the flavor was good and moderation is key.
Q: Do you use any fake/alternative sugars? I’m a sucker for the real deal.
Blissfulbritt 
44 thoughts on “Sweet Treat”
Choc Chip Uru
On your recommendation I will try this ingredient because like you artificial sugars for me are a no go zone 🙂
Thanks for a yum recipe!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Amy @ A Desert Girl
I like the hard stuff. Give me the su-gar. Or the honey. I’m cool with honey. However, it is nice to know that this one is a reasonable substitute should I ever decide to try an artificial option.
Alex @ Cookie Dough Katzen
I’m all for the real thing too although I would try this. So it has a minty flavor to it? Did that make the cookies taste minty too? The cookies look delicious!
Brittany
No minty taste, just a cooling effect. Once it was baked though the cooling went away! The cookies were unreal, gone in two days! HA!
Taryn
I’ve used xylitol in a lot of recipes – it’s a pretty sweet substitute for sugar (see what I did there hahah). I have to tell you, though, if you have a dog, you do NOT want to use this. Xylitol can be deadly to pets. I personally know someone whose dog died after eating a pudding that used xylitol as the sweetener. I hate to be a Debbie downer, but it’s just one of those things I feel like people should know. I don’t have a dog, so I’m perfectly fine with using it.
Brittany
NO I am glad you shared this!! SO sad about your friends dog!!! Thankfully I don’t have dogs, but I will be sure to let anyone know from now on! Thanks for letting me know!
GiGi Eats Celebrities
When you come to visit me, I will allure your taste buds with stevia. I have an obsession – probably because I won’t touch sugar and I haven’t in ten years 😉 I will convert you. I have the power. I am a witch, remember? Unfortunately my powers haven’t FULLY developed or else I would be able to SNAP and you would appear and then we could go on an ADVENTURE – in scuba outfits!
Brittany
I ALMOST publicly apologized to you for my hatred of stevia, because I know you love it so much! I like the Zevia drinks, but using stevia in baking is just NO NO NO for me!! HAHA!
GiGi Eats Celebrities
Ah ha ha! I am glad you heard my voice in your head while you were writing this post! 😉
What I cannot wait for is when GUM like ORBIT sweetens their deliciousness with STEVIA or Xylitol ONLY! That would be the day!
Oh and I could actually see Stevia as NOT being all that good in baking, cause it gets a little BITTER if you use even one tiny granule more than you’re supposed to.
spectacuLAUR
Please send me those cookies.
Her Happy Balance
Love the ingredients lost for your cookie!
Amanda @ .running with spoons.
Finally! Someone who shares my dislike for stevia!! I honestly can’t believe that it gets as much love as it does – it tastes ridiculously artificial to me and I try to stay as far away from it as I do from other artificial sweeteners. That being said, I do like xylitol but only use it on occasion. I’d much prefer the real deal.
Natalie @ Will Jog For Food
I’ve used xylitol and i think it’s my favorite alternative. Stevia has way too much of an aftertaste for me!
Brittany
YES you nailed it with that, it’s the aftertaste that I loathe!
Angela @ Health's Angel
I stay away from fake sugar! I only mess with the real deal…in moderation, of course. I’ve recently realized that my stomach can’t hang with xylitol. I can’t even chew sugar-free gum anymore without getting some stomach “issues”… sucks because I love gum.
Megan
I like coconut sugar! You gotta try it!!
Brittany
Say whaaaaat!? I gotta find me some of that!
Brittany @ GOtheXtraMile
I’m coming over for cookies. 😉 I’ve never actually used xylitol since I am not a fan of powdered sweeteners. I used stevia, but I only use the liquid drops which are pure stevia and no additives!
kathy @ vodka and soda
nope, i eat the real deal… real sugar, butter etc. i don’t see a point in eating chemicals when i work so hard to eat clean..i just eat in moderation and never go overboard.
Brittany
Agreeeeee X 39082978239682!!
kaityscooking
i been wanting to try this for awhile now but was always alittle chicken.. sounds great though and i def believe your opinion over anyones and need to try it asap lol
Melissa @ Mouthwatering Morsel
I’m not a fan of sugar regardless … meaning like none for my iced tea and too much sweetness in my sweets are a no go. I do crave once in a blue moon but other than that I’m goooood. but if I ever do come to your neck of the woods, please make me food. it always seems to be delicious.
jessiebearwhat
I’ve been really curious about xylitol. I used to LOVE stevia, but realized it probably isn’t great to consume a ton of fake sugar. (Although, I got really good at baking stevia a certain way so it tasted like sugar. Took a LOT of messing around with recipes though.) It doesn’t change the taste at all? You said it had a cooling after taste, does that go away when you bake it?
Brittany
Yes the cooling went away after the cookies were baked!! I specifically baked something I’ve made many times to be able to tell if there was a flavor change, and there wasn’t! They were seriously delicious.
jessiebearwhat
Nice. I’ll have to try some. Do you have to get it online or do they sell it in health stores?
Brittany
For this specific brand I’m not sure (I was sent the products for free), but they do sell other xylitol brands in the stores. I would guess they are similar!!
foods for the soul
Because my grandpa has had diabetes for years, I’ve been trying to modify recipes so that he can enjoy them too. (Especially desserts — I must get my huge sweet tooth from him!) It’s great to hear that there’s a brand of sweetener out there that you approve of. Thanks for doing the review, and will you save a cookie for me? :]
di @ life of di.
I have been wanting to try xylitol for the past week or so. I didn’t realize what it was until I started working at Whole Foods and a customer asked me about it (unfortunately, she was the one to inform me! oops!) Anyways, I will have to try it. Those cookies look like they turned out great 🙂
The Healthy Flavor
Ahhhh I agree…I HATE stevia…it is absolutely disgusting….I tried it a couple of times in oatmeal and the aftertaste was so terrible, it was no better than Splenda garbage! I don’t think it is safe either. I only like real sugar and real maple syrup and coconut sugar…these are all real and delicious! I haven’t tried xylitol but I know several who have, but since I’m against the fake stuff, I probably won’t, especially knowing bad tummy side effects. Don’t need any extra bathroom trips, lol!! I bet you couldn’t taste it because the brown sugar you used helped…I’ve heard using ALL xylitol is detectable. The cookies look off the chain! Yum!
Brittany
I have to try this coconut sugar, you’re the second person to mention it!! Good point about the brown sugar..I wonder if that helped mask the taste!! I don’t think I’ll use the xylitol again, so I will never know!
Sarah @ Feeeding the Brain and Body
Last year I went through a phase where I didn’t use any fake sweeteners and tried to acclimatize my taste buds to less sweet things. It worked, now I find most protein bars even too sweet. Now I do occasionally use some stevia to sweeten but never a lot. This was a great review, I have never tried xylitol!
Rach @ This Italian Family
I have to control my sugar intake really carefully because of a heart condition which means that I don’t eat just a ton of sweets. I use bananas and applesauce to sweeten things most of the time. I am working with Stevia to try and figure out how much should go in recipes. I actually just recently had my first Stevia success last week (with banana bread). Normally either I put too much in and it tastes awful or not enough so it’s not sweet at all. Haha! It’s a hard balance to figure out with that stuff. I haven’t tried Xylitol yet (other than in SF gum), but I’m glad it worked out so well for you! 🙂
sincerelylily
I am guilty to liking fake sugars, esp. splenda. I use it when I bake and cant taste the difference… and it has a light, fluffy texture (like flour) so I feel pretty mischevious when i bake it with it b/c i feel like it looks like cocaine.
Brittany
Lily’s CRACK cookies! That would sell it for me, I’d buy 100.
An Unrefined Vegan
My sister sent me a bag of this (not the same brand…) and I haven’t tried it yet – kinda scared to, but your cookies look amazing!!
Khushboo Thadani (@KhushbooThadani)
I LOVE that you said that you hated Stevia! Everyone seems to be all over it but it tastes like, pardon my French, ass to me…I much rather use the real deal any day of the week! Like you said it’s all about moderation- a little bit of real sugar ain’t going to kill me or give me diabetes. However those cookies look LEGIT and by that I mean YUM!
Meghan@CleanEatsFastFeets
Much like you, I don’t mess with the fake crap, and I’ve never even tried stevia so I won’t be starting now. I use real sugar (white, brown, raw), honey, maple syrup, and agave as my sweetner of choice. I did try erythritol, which is the brother from another mother for xylitol. It was alright, although I’m not making a habit of it. Eat real sugar, do it in moderation and balance it out, and you’ll be fine. I couldn’t agree more. Therefore, I love this post.
Alex @ Brain, Body, Because
I have been super curious about xylitol! Chocolate covered Katie uses it a lot and the training plan that I’m on recommends it as well.
I’m with you, though – stevia is SO GROSS.
Christina Does It All
Regardless of the sugar you used, those look AMAZING! Do you think they’d melt if you sent me some!? 😛
katalysthealth
Yes, Im definitely a sucker for the real stuff, but I dont mind baking with a substitute every once in a while. Its nice to eat a baked good and know that it is more wholesome than I think it it lol And those cookies? Look freakin fab!!
Amalia
The real stuff all the way! Although I have trouble with the moderation part, I still prefer the real stuff. I have had the fake stuff once or twice when sampling drinks at work but yuck!
I don’t understand the putting fake stuff in your body part (like with margarine), and I’m just too chicken to try the “natural” alternatives. I haven’t done any research into Stevia or Xylitol but I feel like if I can control the use of the organic raw sugar, then why bother with something else?
Nicole @ Fruit N Fitness
If I am going to sub sugar I like to do it with honey or fruit. Bananas, dates, raisins, pumpkin and apricots are all good naturally sweet add ins.
IHeartVegetables
I use stevia, but I’d be interested in trying this! (I actually don’t mind the taste!)
Shira
Lady, I am with you – 100% real or nothing! All things in moderation….and btw, your cookies look AMAZING. Amazing! xx