This is an entry that has been in the making for some time.  Back in November, I was getting ready for my holiday baking.  Generally speaking,  I start stocking up on sugar, flour, brown sugar, molasses in September so that I can bake for weeks and not run out.  I also stock up when items are on sale, as that way I get the best price for these staples that I use year round.

I was toying with making my grandmother’s Two Flavored Fudge with Splenda and Splenda’s brown sugar blend.  While it would not take all the sugar content out of the recipe, I thought it would make it slightly healthier – but be forewarned, not healthy by any means.  To be totally honest, I never got to making a healthier version of the fudge.

I did, though, run out of brown sugar at one point.  I decided I would substitute the Splenda brown sugar blend.  The packaging says it is a swap of half the brown sugar for the blend, nothing extra needed.  If you read the Splenda package, it is recommended you add extra items into the recipe for baking with it.  The blend does not recommend this and is not even a one for one substitution.  

I made my staple Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies and Pumpkin Bread using the Splenda brown sugar blend.  This meant there was less of the blend by half in the recipe.  Yet, much to my surprise, both items were dryer than usual.  I used the Splenda blend several times for these two particular recipes.  Each time I used the brown sugar blend, the recipe was dryer than normal.

The Splenda brown sugar blend does have a really strong molasses smell.  I use black strap molasses frequently in recipes so I am use to the scent but am not use to be assaulted by it when opening brown sugar.  The taste of the blend was similar to dark brown sugar as I could not tell a significant change in the taste of the cookies or bread.  I also used it to flavor some plain oatmeal.  The taste seemed just like brown sugar but, as above, the smell was stronger than any brown sugar I have ever had.

I still haven’t tried to bake with the regular Splenda.  I will eventually get around to it and let you all know what I think.  If using the Splenda brown sugar blend, you may want to add a touch more liquid to your recipe if fluidity is important.