Anyone here ever use Stevia to make fudge?

[MissMillie]

Last edited Tue Sep 5, 2023, 01:51 PM - Edit history (1)

Food pantry gave me a bag of it. (I asked for "sugar substitute" hoping to get what I usually get: little packets of Sweet n' Lo.

My peanut butter fudge recipe calls for boiling sugar and milk to a certain temp... 239 degrees.

Does the Stevia really work like sugar in this application?

[EYESORE 9001]

1. Stevia should be stable up to that temperature

and chocolate flavor is strong enough to mask any bitterness that may occur with milder-flavored foods, but texture may be off.

[Warpy]

2. This one looks like it might actually work

https://www.stevia.org/stevia-recipes/stove-top-cooking-with-stevia/chocolate-fudge

The trick seems to be limiting the amount of fluid. Adding non reconstituted dry milk would do the trick and net you something fudgy instead of something like thick cocoa. It's worth a try, just have your cocoa mugs handy just in case.

[MissMillie]

3. a cocoa mug for peanut butter fudge?

Not sure I want to drink warm peanut butter.

[Warpy]

4. The problem I've seen for most stevia recipes

for things like fudge is that you end up with fudgy soup.

I didn't see peanut butter as an ingredient in this particular recipe. You might be able to get away with adding it.

[MissMillie]

5. I already had a recipe in mind... I just didn't know

if the Stevia would work in it.

(My Memere's peanut butter fudge. We have a family event coming up, and I thought I might surprise my family. Truth is, I do have enough sugar to just stick w/ the original recipe.))

[Warpy]

6. Unless you're cooking it for a diabetic, best stick with the sugar

because what I've read says stevia won't work, it doesn't act like sugar at all, it just adds sweetness.

Some recipes are supposed to be bad for you. Fudge is one of them. You might as well stick with the tried and true recipe, lest the family be shocked instead of surprised.

[chowmama]

7. Depends on the recipe

I would guess that if it's classic style, with chocolate (not cocoa), a candy thermometer, and cooking to a specific temperature, etc., that it wouldn't work. Sucrose sugar chemistry is so complex as to be an entire area of study and I'm not sure that substituting even another sugar like dextrose or fructose would behave the same way. (My dad at one point wanted to open a candy store, making all the stuff. It never happened, but I still have all his reference materials. Plus the marble slab.)

But the various other types using cocoa plus powdered sugar, marshmallows or other ingredients to get the texture might allow you to substitute Stevia for some, if not all of the sugar ingredient(s). Maybe all. Why not give it a try?

Heck, give the classic PB fudge a try. Let us know how it turns out. If it's even close enough to show promise, you may be able to come up with an adjustment that works on a second batch.

[yellowdogintexas]

8. I made brownies with Stevia and it was a disaster!!!

However, I think it would work for certain things like boiled custard, hot cocoa, or the lemon pudding cake my family loves. It just seems to me that a dish which is very liquid would absorb the stuff.