Whole Foods' GF Morning Glory Muffins need a sub for sugars

[voix]

Here is the recipe. I feel weird with sugar sometimes. Can one sub something else for the cane and brown sugar? Is the sugar a solid or a liquid, since it melts. I could maybe use agave and apple sauce?

Ideas and amounts, please! THanks.

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Makes 18 muffins

Gluten-free flours combine with apples, carrots, zucchini, raisins and walnuts in these nutritious and satisfying muffins. You can also try our Whole Grain Morning Glory Muffins.
Ingredients

2/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup evaporated cane sugar
1/4 cup natural brown sugar
1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 cup tapioca starch
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup grated carrots
1 cup grated zucchini
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
1/2 cup seedless raisins
1/4 cup toasted coconut flakes
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 tart red apple, unpeeled, cored, and finely chopped
Method

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Put oil, cane sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and eggs into a large bowl and whisk by hand for about 1 minute to incorporate air into the mixture. Set aside.

Put flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, baking soda, cinnamon, xanthan gum and salt into a second large bowl and stir well to combine. Add flour mixture, carrots, zucchini, walnuts, raisins, coconut, orange zest and apples to the reserved sugar mixture and stir well to form a batter. Scoop batter into 12 paper-lined muffin tins and bake until cooked through, about 25 minutes.
Nutrition

Per serving (1 muffin/73g-wt.): 220 calories (100 from fat), 11g total fat, 1.5g saturated fat, 35mg cholesterol, 220mg sodium, 27g total carbohydrate (2g dietary fiber, 13g sugar), 3g protein

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[heartofcooking]

I always use agave, maple syrup or honey to substitute when baking muffins that call for sugar. Yes, it will make the batter a bit more wet so just at a bit of flour to adjust the texture.

This recipe calls for a total of 3/4 cup sweetener. I don't like my muffins super sweet to begin with and you usually don't need quite as much alternative sweetener as regular sugar. I would start with maybe 2/3 agave or maple syrup instead to see what you think.

You could also try a mix of the agave and applesauce like you asked about. My experience though is unsweetened apple sauce is not as sweet as agave so you may need to add more to balance it out. This is going to make the batter even wetter. I would start with just picking one of the alternative sweeteners and go from there.

Good luck!
Sarah
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[GFgal]

Honey is a bit sweeter than regular cane sugar so subbing 1/2 C. honey or maple syrup (I'm NOT an agave fan...) for the 3/4 C. total sugar should equal about the same sweetness level. That said...you may want to try even less honey or maple syrup, and up the sweetness level by using a bit of Stevia or LoHan. This will keep the batter less wet.

If you decide to use a liquid sweetener, make sure you keep an eye on the oven temp. When I bake muffins, I like to use the upper third of my oven, raise the oven temp to 400 for the first 10 mins and reduce the temp for the last 10. Ovens vary, so be sure you test for doneness.

Donna H.