# Baking With Monk Fruit



## hawkflight (Jan 24, 2016)

Hi chefs, I'm looking for some advice. I'm on a strict diet to lose weight for surgery, and as a result I cannot eat sugar or gluten. I've decided to try baking with alternative ingredients, namely coconut flour and monk fruit extract. Now, I have a good enough handle on the coconut flour, and I can substitute oat flour if that gets too tough. However, I'm still trying to get a handle on the monk fruit extract. Obviously it's 200x sweeter than regular sugar, so I have to use significantly less, and it has a slightly different flavor from regular sugar. That much I understand. But what I'm a little more uncertain about is the fact that sugar affects the texture of baked goods, and I'm not entirely sure how to compensate for the loss of sugar there. Any advice would be appreciated, thank you.

Edit: For the sake of clarification, I'm using 100% pure monk fruit extract. Not monk fruit extract blended with erythritol. I could use the latter, but I have concerns about pure sugar alcohols and their effect on the gut microbiome.


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## Seoul Food (Sep 17, 2018)

I have used the monk fruit extract and wasn't a fan of the flavor. If you are using the coconut flour I would suggest also adding the almond flour if you are able as I have had better luck blending the two. Here is an excellent site with some good information and recipes I used while on Keto, which is similar to the diet you are doing.

https://www.myketokitchen.com/keto-resources/best-sugar-substitute-for-baking-ketogenic-diets/


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## hawkflight (Jan 24, 2016)

Seoul Food said:


> I have used the monk fruit extract and wasn't a fan of the flavor. If you are using the coconut flour I would suggest also adding the almond flour if you are able as I have had better luck blending the two. Here is an excellent site with some good information and recipes I used while on Keto, which is similar to the diet you are doing.
> 
> https://www.myketokitchen.com/keto-resources/best-sugar-substitute-for-baking-ketogenic-diets/


Thanks, Seoul! I wanted to use almond flour, but unfortunately my mom has a nut allergy and I want to bake for my whole family, not just myself.


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## Seoul Food (Sep 17, 2018)

hawkflight said:


> Thanks, Seoul! I wanted to use almond flour, but unfortunately my mom has a nut allergy and I want to bake for my whole family, not just myself.


That is unfortunate. I would seriously look into another flour to add then that is gluten free because from my experience coconut flour on its own makes the texture kinda funky.


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## salty dog (Mar 3, 2014)

I read somewhere that monk fruit doesn't work well in baked goods. I think it gets an off flavor heated. I use the pure monk fruit to sweeten things like smoothies & yogurt. Just a drop or 2.


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## salty dog (Mar 3, 2014)

Cassava Flour is a useful alternative.
I find in using these alternative flours I need to blend them in hopes of finding a suitable and palatable result.
Tigernut (actually not a nut) flour is on my list now. Looking forward to see what it's like. 
I'm on a grain free (among other things) diet so my flour choices are probably more extreme than you're looking for. Bod's Red Mill has many gluten free flours.


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## Seoul Food (Sep 17, 2018)

I didn't mind the erythritol but it does have a cooling flavor almost like a mint and it can be hard to cook with. I have also used the Stevia but as the OP was saying he is not 100% on using sugar alcohols.

To the OP: do you have to cut sugar out completely or can you use natural ingredients like say an applesauce or yogurt in place of sugar in a baked good?


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## hawkflight (Jan 24, 2016)

Seoul Food said:


> I didn't mind the erythritol but it does have a cooling flavor almost like a mint and it can be hard to cook with. I have also used the Stevia but as the OP was saying he is not 100% on using sugar alcohols.
> 
> To the OP: do you have to cut sugar out completely or can you use natural ingredients like say an applesauce or yogurt in place of sugar in a baked good?


I could use something like applesauce or bananas, yeah.


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

If you're concerned about gut flora you should be taking some form of inulin, there are several natural sources offered, note though that some show sensitivity to the acacia variety. If you haven't already you need also to google Leaky Gut diet.


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