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Joy Filled Eats Natural Sweetener

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5 from 108 votes
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Looking for an all natural and economical sugar-free sweetener that actually tastes good? You need to try my natural sweetener blend! I’ve found that by using a combination of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia I can save money while enjoying a low carb sweetener that tastes just like sugar.

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Joy Filled Eats Natural Sweetener Blend – Xylitol, Erythritol, & Stevia – Low Carb, Keto, Trim Healthy Mama, Diabetic Friendly, Sugar Free

When I started the Trim Healthy Mama diet I was leery about all the recipes using stevia because I have never liked it. All of the grocery store varieties and even the flavored liquid drops have a bitter aftertaste to me. In the past when I stopped using sugar on the South Beach Diet I used artificial sweeteners to replace it. Over the years I’ve read more about the negative effects of artificial sweeteners and I knew I needed to give stevia another try.

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I heard that the Trim Healthy Mama Gentle Sweet natural sweetener, which is a blend of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia, was a game changer so I thought I would give it a try. It really changed my perception of stevia. It had no aftertaste or bitterness.

Because we have a strict food budget I became determined to come up with my own blend of erythritol, xylitol, and stevia. I try to save as many pennies as I can when I shop. Making my own sweeteners, baking mixes, seasonings, and cooking from scratch saves the most.

baking sheet lined with cupcakes, half are topped with a peanut butter filling and another are topped with melted chocolatePin

These Tagalong Cupcakes are one use for my sweetener. Don’t they look yummy? They are sugar-free! But you would never know. Even my husband who isn’t a dessert guy loved them.

You can now mix up your own sweetener that measures just like Gentle Sweet. If you are on a tight budget this helps with this way of eating immensely. I use this sweetener in all my dessert recipes and I’ve subbed in it recipes from the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook like the Trimtastic Cake.

You can make everything from Sweetened Condensed Milk to Caramel with this recipe and more.

If you grind this in a food processor it works great as a low carb powdered sugar. It is the best out of the low carb and keto sweeteners!

close up on food processor filled with combined ingredients for Joy Filled Eats Natural sweetenerPin

Ingredients in Joy Filled Eats Sweetener

Xylitol is a natural sweetener. It is a sugar alcohol made from birch trees or corncobs. It has 40% fewer calories than sugar and is a 7 on the glycemic index (white sugar is a 64). Please note that xylitol can be fatal to dogs so don’t share treats containing xylitol with your furry friends.

Erythritol is a sugar alcohol like xylitol. It occurs naturally in some fruits and vegetables  It has zero calories and no impact on blood sugar. It is produced from glucose by fermentation with yeast.

Stevia is a plant discovered in South America. To make stevia powder a water extraction method is typically used. Stevia is 100 to 200 times sweeter than sugar so a little goes a long way.

almond biscotti cookies lined in a row close upPin

Where Do I Buy Sweetener Ingredients?

My natural sweetener recipe is easy and economical. There are many choices on where to order the ingredients from. And I’ve used several brands of these products successfully.

I personally order the ingredients for this natural sweetener from amazon, walmart, thrive market, and iherb.


website logos for thrive market iherb amazon and walmartPin


Thrive Market: My Thrive Market Coupon works on everything from sweeteners and baking supplies to vitamins and beauty products! Thrive has great prices on coconut products, spices, organic health items, baby food, and more especially since they often will email codes for an additional 25-30% off your entire order. Head over to this post to see more of the latest deals at Thrive. My favorite deal is always getting Lily’s Chocolate Chips for $4 a bag!

variety of packaged ingredients from Thrive market


iherb:

If you are ordering from iherb you save $5 with my link. Generally, you can get the ingredients to make for under $8 a pound. Free shipping is on orders over $20. 

I ordered the ingredients from iherb with free shipping. They have a lot of products that work for Keto, Low Carb, and Trim Healthy Mama eating plans. Other products they have that are compatible with THM are oat fiber, psyllium husks, whey protein powder, coconut flour, almond flour, etc. etc. This link takes you right to iherb so you can start making your own sugar free sweetener! Just put each ingredient into the search bar and add to your cart. It’s cheaper to buy the 2.5 pounds but they also have 1 pound bags if you’d like to go small before you commit to a huge bag. It is very very easy.Jet.com

Tip: iherb is normally the best choice if you are outside the USA. They ship worldwide for reasonable rates.


Amazon:

With free one day and two-day Prime shipping, Amazon is where I order from most often. I can consistently get xylitol and erythritol inexpensively. I buy the largest size stevia and it lasts me about 2 years. And I bake A LOT.

I have tried all of these brands and just buy whichever is the cheapest on the day I order! No big deal.

Xylitol

Erythritol

Stevia




Walmart:

Over the last year or so I’ve been buying more and more groceries from Walmart. They offer free shipping over $35 and have many low carb products in addition to having more choices in the store.

Xylitol

Erythritol

Stevia

 


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jar of sugar free sweetener

Joy Filled Eats Natural Sweetener - Low Carb, THM, Sugar Free

Taryn Scarfone
Looking for an all natural and economical sugar-free sweetener that actually tastes good? You need to try my natural sweetener blend! It is twice as sweet as sugar so you use less.
5 from 108 votes
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 64 tablespoons
Calories 17.7

Ingredients
 
 

Weight measurements:

Cup measurements:

Instructions
 

Powdered Sweetener

  • Process the ingredients in the food processor for a few minutes if you are planning on using it in chocolate, beverages, or icing.

Granular Sweetener

  • For baking and candy making, you can just mix the ingredients together by hand.

Notes

Granular vs Powder: I've only been blending it when needed right before using it in recipes. I put a huge mason jar on my kitchen scale and just pour in the weight amounts of xylitol and erythritol and measure in the stevia. Then I shake it really well.
Stevia Extract: You can use any pure stevia extract. Stevia should be the only ingredient.
Erythritol: Erythritol has been in the news lately. I believe more information is needed. But you can make this sweetener with ANY combination of 1:1 granular sweeteners.
Xylitol: This can be made using allulose or just erythritol and stevia if you do not want to use xylitol because of a pet in the house. Xylitol is toxic to dogs. Replace the xylitol with allulose or additional erythritol. I prefer allulose. 
Allulose: When subbing allulose for xylitol this has 3.5 calories per tablespoon.
Sweetness Level: I use this blend of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia in my recipes. This is twice as sweet as sugar. It is comparable to Trim Healthy Mama Gentle Sweet and Truvia.
Carbs: If you run these ingredients through a nutrition calculator this will come up as having carbs because those calculators do not subtract the sugar alcohols. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1tablespoonCalories: 17.7Carbohydrates: 0.1g
Love this recipe?Please leave a 5 star rating!

Please note that xylitol is fatal to dogs so don’t share treats containing xylitol with your furry friends. You may prefer to not have it in your pet-friendly house at all.

 

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681 Comments

  1. Hi Taryn! Thank you so much for your lovely recipes–my family enjoys them often!
    I’ve been making your sweetener blend for a long time but now need to change out the xylitol. Do you happen to know how much allulose I should use to replace it? I tried just leaving out the xylitol but we don’t like that.5 stars

      1. Thank you. I had the same question. Xylitol spiked my blood sugar. It doesn’t do that to most people. But it does to me 🙁, and I try to only have it sparingly, in dental products.

  2. The lemon pound cake was pretty good and my husband really enjoyed it. I just used monkfruit (erythritol) since that’s all I had on hand & it came out fine. My father is diabetic and I wanted to stick to the monkfruit for him to try it & he also enjoyed it. Thanks.4 stars

  3. I have a friend who can’t tolerate erythritol. It gives her digestive issues. I am trying to find a good substitute since everything else is a blend with erythritol and baked good don’t always turn out well with pure stevia. Any suggestions?5 stars

    1. Hello,
      In regards to Julia’s comment and my question, there is pure erythritol and then there is erythritol mixed with maltodextrin;
      Is your recipe that includes Erytritol without maltodextrin?
      Your recipe shows Erythritol and Xylitol which are both available without maltodextrin, but it is not clear in your recipe.
      The Stevia I can find in local stores comes only mixed with maltodextrin, agreeably there is so little stevia in your recipe that one really need not worry.

      Would you clarify in your recipe which have maltodextrin and which do not?5 stars

  4. I am new to Keto and love it but I know when it is not real sugar because I can really taste the bitterness and the cooling effect of the sweeteners. Will this combination remove the COOLING EFFECT taste of erythritol as well as the bitterness? Thanks

    1. Swerve is substituted one for one for sugar. If you’re using this blend it is half as much of this blend as sugar or the same amount of this blend as THM gentle sweet

  5. I currently use Whole Earth Stevia Leaf & Monk fruit sweetener for my coffee. Can I use your sweetener in my coffee?
    One more question have you compared the cost of your sweetener to Trim Healthy Mama Gentle that you talk about?
    Thanks

    1. Yes, this is great in coffee. I use it myself every morning.

      The last time I checked on prices my blend comes to between $4-5 a pound. A 3 lb bag of Gentle Sweet is currently $28.99 plus shipping. That comes to a savings of at least $5 a pound.

      There is an initial upfront cost of buying a big bag or container of stevia extract when you decide to try my sweetener so the first batch might not have as big of a savings but you use such a small amount of stevia so you won’t have to buy it again for a while.

  6. I have swerve, which says it is erythritol mainly. Could I use this? Also we have dogs so what would be my measurements without the xylitol?

    1. You can add stevia to the swerve so you need less of it (making to comparable to my sweetener). I haven’t tested it but I think you would add 1 tsp to 14 oz.

  7. I have said I was going to make your sweetener for a month now. I made it today. What a revelation. It is truly great. I was a tad skeptical about it not having an after taste. I do use truvia and brown sugar truvia. They have a slight after taste but does not bother me. But this has not after or bitter taste. Thanks so much for this. I make your cheese cake fluff often and have made it with monk fruit and its good but I imagine with this sweetener, it will be even better. I did not tell my family the first time I made the fluff that it was sugar free. I used sugar free raspberry sauce and zero sugar hersheys chocolate syrup. It was so good. They all loved it. then I told them it was all sugar free. After they got over the shock It is now the dessert my kids ask for when we all get together. I am making it again tomorrow with your mix and see how it is .I am also making your caramel sauce and putting toasted almonds on top. I want to make it tonight but I don”t need to be eating it before bed. Lol5 stars

  8. When your recipe calls for a half cup and you say to use another one in a half mor if its nit your recipe does that mean half cup plus one and a half more cups of sweetner?

  9. I am interested in making your sweetner combination. I have Pyrine that has erythritol and Stevia extract in it, Can I use this instead of getting all three ingredients?

    1. I’m not sure what that is and how much of each ingredient it has. You could experiment with small amounts and use them in a single-serve recipe, like a mug cake, to see how it comes out.

  10. Hi,
    I love reading your recipes (I’ll be trying to bake my first one very soon.) question is the Stevia liquid?
    Thank you!

  11. What do yourecommend since I can’t tolerate yxylitol or erythritol? They cause digestive issues for me.

  12. Try it, you’ll love it! Who knew a sugar substitute could taste sooo good! Looks, tastes and feels like “sugar”, however its NOT! This will be a staple in my kitchen. I follow a “KETO” diet and this has become my go to sweetner. I will be ordering items on line. They are a little pricey at the grocery store. Sooooo, now that I know what a great sub this is, it will have a special place in the pantry! The combination of ingredients seems to avoid any after taste.(Stevia always left a terrible aftertaste). Thank you Taryn for sharing this amazing recipe! Love it! I follow a”KETO” diet and this recipe (along with many of your other recipes) have been amazing! I do not feel like Im missing out on anything! THANK YOU TARYN! Have A wonderful day!5 stars

  13. You are the greatest. I am concerned about the cost of starting THM and this is so helpful! I am already a devoted follower of you!

    1. A monk fruit blend like lakanto is sweeter than erythritol. I would just add 1/2 tsp of stevia for 14oz of the monkfruit/erythritol combo.

5 from 108 votes (41 ratings without comment)

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