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

October 21, 2010 · Posted in Bestselling Cooking Books 


Product Description
Enjoy sugar-free versions of your favorite dishes without the guilt, the calories, or the health risks.

Derived from a South American plant and widely available in the United States, stevia is an all-natural, calorie-free sweetener that is three hundred times sweeter than sugar, suitable for diabetics, safe for children, and does not cause cavities. The Stevia Cookbook includes documented studies and testimonials, as well as more than one hundred recipes … More >>

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

Be Sociable, Share!

Comments

5 Responses to “The Stevia Cookbook: Cooking with Nature’s Calorie-Free Sweetener”

  1. JN Trotter on October 21st, 2010 10:23 am

    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.
    Rating: 2 / 5

  2. S. Smith on October 21st, 2010 11:30 am

    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.
    Rating: 2 / 5

  3. Artist Barbara Garro on October 21st, 2010 1:11 pm

    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.
    Rating: 5 / 5

  4. D. Bates on October 21st, 2010 4:06 pm

    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.
    Rating: 4 / 5

  5. Angel Lee on October 21st, 2010 6:49 pm

    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.
    Rating: 5 / 5

Leave a Reply