Any quality recipe is a carefully arranged chemical reaction. When all the ingredients are balanced, the final foods produced are at their peak tastiness. In other words, you have moist cakes, cookies have just the right crunch or chewiness, and pies and tarts hold their shape. When changing any ingredient, you must consider how this swap plays into the whole picture.
Many ingredients won’t dramatically impact a recipe, such as flavors and toppings. However, you must carefully assess any ingredients that center around the base elements. Changing the ratio of flour, sugar, and water can profoundly affect the texture and taste. As such, how to substitute sugar with honey in any recipe requires a little extra thought.
Key Differences Between Sugar and Honey
While both are delicious sweeteners that have been baked with for time immemorial, these two ingredients actually differ in many ways! First off, raw honey is a much healthier and more natural choice than white sugar. Next, honey has bonus features that castor sugar lacks, which makes substituting it a little tricky. Namely, honey is much sweeter than sugar, and it’s also in a liquid form. Because of these two key traits, honey can profoundly shift the ingredients’’ balance if not properly accounted for.
Additionally, while there is powdered honey, it lacks much of the rich qualities that make raw honey so yummy and beneficial. Think of it more like a matcha powder: It’s excellent as a flavor facet for sauces and drinks rather than a conversion of honey to a granulated sugar form.
How To Effectively Alter a Recipe
When swapping honey in, carefully consider the differences discussed. Honey has a sweeter taste to volume than sugar. In other words, a cup of honey will result in a much sweeter treat than one made with the same amount of sugar. We all love sugar, but many recipes written since the ’50s have seen sugar application double.
In other words, adding equal amounts of honey may make your recipe sickly sweet! Aim for 3/4th the amount of honey or less. Honey, as noted, also has a touch of water that castor sugar lacks. Too much water in a recipe can add extra cooking time and even cause delicate pastries to collapse. Since you can’t extract honey’s water, instead reduce the liquids in your recipe by 1/4th at least. How to substitute sugar with honey in any recipe might take a little experimenting to perfect at first, but the difference this natural sweetener brings is well worth the effort!
Additional Resources:
High Fructose Corn Syrup
