Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookies with Agave Nectar

Yes these completely normal and yummy looking cookies are gluten-free and contain no white sugar. I felt confident that I had perfected the gluten-free chocolate chip cookie using the recipe from "Gluten-Free Baking Classics," and I did want to reduce the amount of sugar in my baking. Since I had some agave nectar on hand, I simply substituted 3/4 cup of agave nectar for 1 cup of white, granulated sugar—I left the 1/2 cup of brown sugar unaltered. I've read recommendations that one is suppose to reduce the amount of liquid in a recipe when using agave nectar, but since there are no other liquids besides the eggs in this recipe, I did not make any modifications. I blended the agave nectar in with the brown sugar and butter, and then proceeded as described in the recipe below (except I used light brown sugar instead of dark because when this recipe was published in Gourmet in 2005 it called for light brown sugar).

The result? Happily, absolutely no sugar-substitute aftertaste. Our dinner guest and my sister both thought they were perfectly normal chocolate chip cookies—meaning that no one was able to just eat one or two or three or ...—although they were a little browner in color and very light, yet the slightest bit cakey. I also found them a little sweeter, so I might reduce the amount of agave nectar by a tablespoon or two. A plus was that I didn't get night sweats after eating a bunch late in the evening, as I've been known to when I have too much sugar in my system.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies from "Gluten-Free Baking Classics"
To make white sugar free, substitute 3/4 cup agave nectar for the granulated, white sugar
(click on image to see recipe in detail)

Gluten-free, Sugar-free Blueberry Scones

My sister was coming for a visit, and, as she is diabetic, I wanted to do some gluten-free and sugar-free baking. Having made lemon, cornmeal gluten-free scones before, I knew that they contained very little sugar (1/4 cup). I've been interested in substituting out white sugar in recipes for my own health--all the gluten-free baking I did in the winter didn't exactly slim me down for summer.

My sister uses agave nectar to make a sugar-free margarita, and I've read a bit online about using agave nectar in place of granulated, white sugar. As for how to substitute in agave nectar in a recipe, I've come across different suggestions. What I seem to find most, since agave nectar is quite sweet and syrupy, is to use 3/4 cup agave nectar per 1 cup of sugar and reduce liquids a bit (amount decided by trial and error I guess), if the recipe even calls for liquids. While setting-up a monthly Tesco delivery, I found that they carry agave nectar and added it to my order.

Recipe in mid-production. Agave nectar in plastic squeeze bottle in foreground.

The scone recipe calls for mixing the dry ingredients, including the sugar, together, and then adding, at the same time, the dry mixture and liquids to the beaten eggs. Since the agave nectar is syrupy, I added it to the milk. Since only 1/4 cup of granulated sugar is required, I didn't go through the bother of exactly measuring 3/4 of 1/4 cup (anyone have 3/16 measuring cup?), I just eyeballed "a little less" than 1/4 cup agave nectar. I also reduced the amount of liquid from 1/2 cup milk to a little more than 1/3 cup.

Recipe from Annalise G. Roberts' "Gluten-Free Baking Classics" (click on image to enlarge)

Another change I made, not related to sugar or gluten issues, was using fresh blueberries instead of raisins—just not a fan of the little, dried buggers. I did make the mistake of following the recipe and adding the blueberries in with the milk. Now, raisins could stand up to the next step, being beaten with a hand mixer. However, blueberries would just get mashed-up and color the batter blue. Instead of picking the blueberries out, I just mixed the batter by hand.

Scones head into the oven. The recipe said 14 scones one inch deep and 2 1/2 inches in diameter, but I ended up with 11 one inch-y by three-ish scones. I've never been good at judging size—of a crowd or a pastry.

Hopefully from the picture below you can see that the scones emerged from the oven looking "normal." As for the taste? Well, I was really pleased, and my husband and my sister both approved. As I did not eat many scones in my gluten eating days, I still wasn't confident in their true scone-iness. When I commented that they seemed a little dry without jam, my husband reminded me that scones are drier than muffins and are typically eaten with jam. I can confidently comment that the 1/4 cup of agave nectar sweetened the scones perfectly and did not impart any aftertaste.

Oven-fresh scones ready to be eaten.