Expert: Elyse Grau - 12/18/2010

Question
I want to mix my own brown sugar, using black strap molasses, prefer unsulphured. Can i use Stevia (from In The Raw) instead of white sugar. The mix it with Molitol. I want to make gingerbread cookies. Or maybe part stevia and part table sugar?

Answer
You would have to refer to the Stevia package or contact the company regarding its use in baking. I doubt it would work. You might be able to replace part of the sugar with it for sweetness, but sugar has other important roles in baking that substitutes cannot fulfill. Most gingerbread recipes already call for some molasses, so using white sugar in place of brown won't be a big problem. If yours doesn't, you would need to reduce the moisture somewhat when adding molasses. I don't know how much molasses is needed per cup of white sugar, but I wouldn't think it would be much.

Elyse