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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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Joy Filled Eats Natural Sweetener - Low Carb, THM, Sugar Free
Ingredients
Weight measurements:
- 16 oz xylitol (or allulose)
- 12 oz erythritol (or allulose)
- 2 teaspoon Better Stevia or any pure stevia extract
Cup measurements:
- 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons xylitol (or allulose)
- 1 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons erythritol (or allulose)
- 2 teaspoon Better Stevia or any pure stevia extract
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
Nutrition
Jennifer Church says
I have a couple bags of super sweet. Could I just add a bunch of xylitol to make it into gentle sweet? How much?
Taryn says
I'm not sure. I don't know what the ratio of stevia to erythritol is in super sweet. That would affect how much xylitol you would add.
Sharla Scovel says
I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. This is the most helpful website I have found. Your recipes and mixes look delicious. Congrats on your weight loss!
Debbie says
any subs I could try for the better stevia? In Canada its super pricey on amazon to have it shipped from US
Taryn says
Any pure stevia extract without other added ingredients would be fine.
Wanjiru says
I used your links to place orders for the 3 sweeteners. I just wanted to make a correction to your post: all orders over $20 qualify for free shipping at iHerb and not $40. I thought I should point this out for those who may shy away from ordering from iHerb due to this change in policy.
Taryn says
Thank you! They change their policies so often I can't keep up. I will edit the post.
Melissa says
Do you have a suggestion of a blend that doesn't include xylitol? We have two dogs and a cat and a forgetful young one in the house that may give a bite of a treat to the dog without thinking.
Taryn says
You can use all erythritol with stevia. The only problem with just using erythritol is it can have a strange cooling effect.
B says
Do you use this blend whenever a recipe calls for Gentle Sweet? Currently I have pyure and I use that in equal amt to GS recipes when its asked for--is that how I would use this, one for one with GS?
Taryn says
Yes, I use this in any recipe that calls for gentle sweet.
Kathy says
What brand of chocolate chips do you use?
Taryn says
I use Lily's when I can get them for a good price. Sometimes I make my own by melting baking chocolate and adding sweetener.
Susette Hoffpauir says
What do you mean by just blending the 3 sweeteners before putting into a recipe? I would like to save money by making this blend but don't know how to make 1 cup or 2 cups or 1 3/4 cups etc each individual time. Why shouldn't I just make a whole batch at once? Thank you so much.
Taryn says
I meant that you can blend them in a food processor before storing it. If you are planning to use it in cold beverages, yogurt, icing, etc. blending it first will help it dissolve and not be grainy. I normally make a double batch at once.
Susette Hoffpauir says
Thank you so much. I misunderstood what you meant but now I see what you mean.
Cindy says
Please be careful with storage of xylitol and foods made with it...it is deadly poison to dogs...
Taryn says
Yes, thank you. We do not have any pets at home but if I give my mom any treats I always remind her 🙂
Stacey says
Do you have a similar recipe without the xylitol? Maybe similar to super sweet?
Taryn says
There is a recipe for Super Sweet on the THM site. It is in the sweetener chart here: https://www.trimhealthymama.com/#usefulinfo
Cora says
I am allergic to all nuts and coconut. What can I use to replace flours and other products? Thanks
Norma says
The better stevia is that like THM stevia that comes in a 1 oz bag?
Taryn says
Yes, I've heard the THM stevia is a bit sweeter.
sarah says
Do you substitute this blend cup for cup with sugar? Swerve?
Thanks.
Betsy Stokes says
I just made this, but with your sweetener blend, and oooooh! So good! Didn't taste like anything but sugar! (I did use straight confectioners Swerve for the topping though)
http://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/2017/05/low-carb-blueberry-bakewell-tart.html
Doreen Spearj says
I am so happy to find you! This is awesome...just checking though to mix these 3 together you said to use 1 1/2 c plus 2T eŕythritol...2c plus 2T xylitol...2tsp better stevia...right? Thanks
Taryn says
Yes, that is correct. I did this first by weights and then went back and added dry cup measurements for anyone without a food scale.
Teresa says
I've recently lost 60lbs on a low carb/high protein diet. I stay around 1400 calories a day and run approximately 3 miles per day/ 5-6 days a week. when I use artificial sweetener I've always used Splenda because, I found it to taste most like sugar. I don't like the after taste of stevia and the other sweetness I've seen mentioned. WHy do most people not use Splenda?
Taryn says
I decided to switch to naturally derived sweeteners a few years ago. I also did not like stevia until I tried it in this blend.
Betsy Stokes says
I'm excited about trying this! Been looking for the best-tasting natural sweetener for my diabetic diet. How does it measure in recipes (if I were to create it just as you designed it) in relation to sugar? Is it literally 1/2 the amount of this mix verses the sugar the recipe calls for? Thanks!
Taryn says
Yup! You only need half the amount.
Betsy Stokes says
Thank you so much! I don't know what I'd do as a gluten-free diabetic momma without you awesome food bloggers! Seriously!
Darlene Matchett says
I'm brand new to low carb eating. Thanks for your info.
Christine says
What if I can only use xylitol and stevia due to my son's restricted diet? I am not familiar with how erythritol works, so not sure if I could just use xylitol to replace the amount of erythritol or if I needed to compensate with both xylitol and stevia.
Also, how would this mixture correspond to the use of sugar in a normal recipe? Have you found a ratio that seems to work well?
Thanks for sharing this information! It's really helpful.
Taryn says
You should be able to just use xylitol and stevia. If you use the same measurements and replace the erythritol with additional xylitol it would be twice as sweet as sugar.
Christe McKittrick says
Both the large and the small recipe call for 2 tsp of stevia powder, is that a misprint? Or are the recipies the same size?
Taryn says
They are the same size. One uses weights and the other uses dry measuring cups. 2 tsp is too small to weigh accurately do that is the same for both.