flours and honey

Tonight was the last night of my Sugar-free baking class. I've been interested in alternate sweeteners because I think plain ol' sugar is often overprocessed and overused, and I'd like to have less of it in my life. With sweeteners like agave nectar, honey and rice syrup, I can attain differences in flavors and also use less to sweeten. Honey, for example, is delicious in pancakes or pumpkin pie, while agave nectar is great to sweeten carrot cake. The instructor has just finished a year-long sugar fast where she experimented with other sweeteners and has been sharing what she learned with us.

Here are Barley, Buckwheat, Oat, Millet, Rye & Spelt flours all ready to make six different samples of pancakes for a taste test. I pretty much have cut white flour out of my diet and use whole wheat to bake with. Trader Joe's carries a white wheat flour which is wheat but cooks more finely, like white. I've just started using this along with pure whole wheat flour. I've wanted to check out some other flours than wheat for a while, but was unsure what to mix them with, etc. This was a fine little tutorial in flavors. I loved the barley and millet flours the most of all.
Sugar-free Cream cheese brownie made with cocoa, brown rice syrup, and agave. Barely any of this was left over to take home...

Sugar-free Millet Oatmeal Raisin cookies sweetened with agave nectar, rice syrup, and honey. These are very tasty. Who knew millet was so sweet? (Besides parakeets.)

Class was over at 9pm and we all left feeling a little full. And with big containers of leftovers. I feel a little more fortified with information and experiments in order to tackle these things at home. I'd like to continue exploring alternate flours and sweeteners and if I have to make guinea pigs out of myself and my husband, and taste-test my way through new recipes of crepes and cookies and cakes, so be it. I'm dedicated that way.