Instructions

1. Determine which alternative you want to use for sugar. You can select from either natural sweeteners or artificial sweeteners. All sweeteners are not created equal. Some natural sweetener alternatives to sugar are honey, maple syrup, molasses or corn syrup. Artificial sweetener options are saccharine, aspartame, acesulfame potassium and sucralose.

2. Convert your alternative into its sugar equivalent. Honey is a natural sweetener that is sweeter than sugar and requires 3/4 cup for every cup of sugar in a recipe. Maple syrup has the same conversion. You can also use molasses, which is not as sweet as sugar and therefore requires 1 1/3 cup for every cup of sugar. You must also reduce other liquid ingredients by 2 tbsp. when using honey or maple syrup to compensate for using a liquid instead of dry sugar. Saccharine, which is 200 to 700 times sweeter than sugar, only requires 6 grams for every 1/4 cup of sugar. There are 201 grams in one cup. You can also use sucralose, which has an equal conversion rate to sugar.

3. Mix your ingredients together. If the texture seems awkward, you may need to add more sugar substitution or add other dry ingredients to thicken the mixture.

4. Do a taste test when you're done baking. You may want to try a different alternative if the taste doesn't compare to using traditional sugar.