About No-Sugar Treats 2: The Palette of Ingredients Available + a Recipe

In my first, conceptual post about making no-sugar treats and energy bars, I said that it is all about abundance - but also economy, in the avoidance of empty calories - and the recognition that I may need to stay off sugar indefinitely but am determined that this shouldn't mean that I can't have dessert. [I've left it to go without saying that I'm not going to use aspartame, splenda, etc but if anyone isn't on board with why not, I can write about that sometime.] 

In figuring out how to make things, it all goes back to my 'metaphors' post: if you know what role an ingredient is playing in a recipe, you can almost always devise a substitute for it. Today, I'm going to talk about the ingredients potentially available for making no-sugar bliss balls and energy bars. In my experimentations so far, I have also identified two crucial techniques, which I'll share in the next post.

This week, I posted my 'birthday pie' recipe, which is super-decadent and rich, and definitely not an 'every day' food. It was also pretty easy to de-sugar because the binding effects of potential sugary ingredients could easily be accomplished by more moisture and fat, and stevia works as a sweetener.

But bliss balls, energy bars and other kinds of snack are a really important 'every day' food if you have any kind of active lifestyle, as we do, and those are the ones I've been playing with the most because it's a bit trickier, because  of the variety of roles that the sweeteners play. 

In general, raw energy bars ('Lara Bar' or 'Organic Food Bar' style) are so easy! At their simplest, they are just nuts or seeds and soft dried fruit processed together. They can also include spices, salt, some nut butter or oil, honey, agave or other syrup, sprouted grains, superfoods, powders - cacao, carob, etc. But the basic nuts'n'dates is what does it. For a 'Lara Bar' type bar, the proportion is about 3 parts dates to one part nuts. These are a wonderful, portable food, and they don't spoil quickly either, so they're good compact camping food.

'Bliss balls' utilize many of the same ingredients but tend to rely more on nut butter or coconut oil and powdered ingredients and a small amount of syrup to hold them together. And raw fudges rely purely on the fat to hold them together - but will melt when it gets warm!

So, for my experimentations, all syrups and dried sweet fruits are out of the picture. (I say 'dried sweet fruits' because I put some dried jalapenos in my last batch of bliss balls and they're technically a fruit…) Which leaves me with everything else - nuts, seeds, spices, superfoods, sprouts, salt, nut butter, oil.

What are the roles these ingredients that I can't use play in the recipe?

1. They sweeten it. Well, duh! But this is actually the easiest thing to fix. Many kinds of nuts are sweet in themselves. Coconut and coconut oil are very sweet. Carob is Phase 1.5 and will be involved soon. So are goji berries, which is something to think about (although they're not really sweet). But stevia is a wonderful thing. Many spices are also sweet: especially cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla. I haven't cared for mesquite, but that's another possibility.

2. They make it durable. The dried sweet fruits, honey, agave, are all non-perishable. This means that you end up with a bar that isn't going to spoil rapidly. This role can be fixed either by using more oil in the no-sugar bar recipe, or by using more moisture and then dehydrating. But in the former case, it can end up being too oily, and one of the most delightful aspects of the typical energy bar is that it doesn't require dehydrating and is so simple to put together.

3. They bind it together. Dried sweet fruits, honey, agave, are all sticky. They hold the bar together without having to make a wet dough, which is also part of the durability piece. There aren't many things that contain no sugar and are sticky: in fact, one of the pleasures of avoiding sugar is this complete absence of stickiness! So, just like in role 2, the addition either of more moisture or of more fat is going to be necessary in adapting the recipe.

Stevia is wonderful, and cinnamon is actually somewhat viscous in water, but neither one of them is going to hold your bar together or stop it from degrading. And personally, I didn't want to end up with glorified sweetened nut butter balls: I wanted more protein in there. I also didn't want crackers. 

At this stage, I am starting to think that a little dehydration may be unavoidable (or else keep them in the freezer). Fat is also essential. My second experimental batch of energy bars, a few weeks ago, which had barely any fat and a lot of hemp protein powder, went moldy after just 6 days, in the fridge! Freaked me out. (It also didn't taste very good, even when it was fresh. (And obviously I didn't taste it after mold set in!)) The lesson from that batch was that slightly more fat really is a good idea. It helps with binding, but I got that batch to bind without it. Turns out it's really important for durability too.

Bliss balls rely on fat for binding and durability and raw fudges and chocolates do even more so. So, both of those are really easy to make no-sugar, because the main role dates/honey/agave/syrups are playing in the recipe is sweetening, rather than binding or making durable. (Please note, I adore the taste of all of these and am not saying that they don't contribute their own special flavor. But, for those who can't have them at all, it is good to know that you can still make the recipe without.)

There is one ingredient-composite and one technique that I have found really helpful in my experimentations, and I'm glad to share both of them. I'll do that in my next post on this topic, but I'll leave you with my most recent bliss ball recipe experiment: (c=cup, T=tablespoon, t=teaspoon)

1 1/2 c filberts (soaked and dried)

1/2 c walnuts (soaked and dried)

1/2c shredded coconut

1/2c hemp protein/fiber powder

3 T flax meal

1 T spirulina 

Generous shake of cinnamon

1 t ginger

1/2 t cardamom

pinch sea salt

1 dried jalapeno

lemon zest

3 T coconut oil

water

extra cinnamon for rolling

Grind the nuts until they're mostly powder, then put in a mixing bowl and add all the dry ingredients. Stir together, and then add the coconut oil and enough water so that it holds together. Add the water a very little bit at a time and stir lots: it's less water than you might think!

When the mixture holds together, roll into balls in your hands, and dust with cinnamon.

Note: next time I make these, I might add a little more coconut oil, as I did in my previous batch: this batch is nice and high-protein but doesn't hold together quite so well. Next time, I'll also add some maca, which is another good binder (plus delicious).