Joy Filled Eats Natural Sweetener
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.
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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.
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 tsp Better Stevia or any pure stevia extract
Cup measurements:
- 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons xylitol (or allulose)
- 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons erythritol (or allulose)
- 2 tsp 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
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.
Hi… how do you equal raw sugar or honey for your homemade sweetener?
You will need 1.5 to 2 times the amount listed.
Hi there! I love this idea and was wondering what are your thoughts on substituting allulose for the xylitol? I don’t allow it in the house because I have fur babies.
I actually purchased allulose recently to give this a try. I think it will work.
I actually purchased allulose recently to give this a try. I think it will work….Hi Taryn, just wondering if you tried this and how it turned out.
I have had readers use it since my last comment. I haven’t tried it myself yet. I completely forgot and need to add this to my recipe testing list.
Can use Pyure for your erythritol and stevia and just add xylitol???
I think so BUT I have not tested the ratios. You will have to play around with it. I would suggest making a small batch and trying it in a mug cake to see if the sweetness level is to your liking.
I have a quick question. I’ve been using lakanto monk fruit sweetener which tastes like sugar to me. Except for that cooling feeling when eating baked items. Does your sweetener mixture do the same thing?
Not as much. Because I add stevia it is twice as sweet as lakanto. Using half the amount helps reduce the cooling.
Hello,
If I am making a recipe that calls for 1 cup of any sweetener (not regular sugar), would I use 1 cup of this?
Thank you so much!
I would assume that are talking about a 1:1 sweetener. I would only use 1/2 cup of my blend. You can taste test and adjust as you are cooking.
When you make this recipe without Xylitol, do you just omit the Xylitol or do you make up the difference with the erythritol and stevia?
You make up the difference with erythritol. So, you would use 28 oz erythritol and 2 tsp stevia.
Thanks, made this in a pinch when out of Gentle Sweet and had bags of X & E I was not using. Powdered some for my skinny chocolate and drinks. Thank you!
Would I use the same amount of your sweetener, as any sweetener listed in other recipes ie swerve, monkfruit blend.
No, you only use half the amount
Hello! Can I use pure monkfruit instead of the stevia? if so, would I need 2 tsp as well? thanks in advance
I think so but I have not tested that yet. I have pure monk fruit in my cabinet waiting for me to test. I’d suggest making a small batch and trying it in a small recipe like a mug cake to check the sweetness level.
thanks:) I might also try to make a “Lakanto/ Monkfruit Blend” too, I guess it’ll be around 1 and 1/3 cup Erythritol + 1 and 1/2 tsp pure monkfruit, as I read that the Monkfruit Blend has only 1% pure Monkfruit in it and the rest is Erythritol.. that way I hope I can just use it as 1:1 to sugar..
Hi, may I know how long it would last on the shelf once mixed? Apart from individual expiry date of each raw material.
Months. Possibly years. All the ingredients are shelf-stable so as long as you store in an airtight container it should last indefinitely.
Hi Taryn,
If you substitute allulose for xylitol in the sweetener recipe, do you use the same amount?
Thanks so much,
Cat
Yes, they are both 1:1 for sugar so should be interchangeable.
This was super simple to make. Thank you so much!!! This was the first time I have successfully baked anything keto. It was fantastic. I wasn’t thrilled with the icing as I used swerve powdered sugar. But the cake itself was beyond my imagination. So smooth and perfect!!! Highly Recommended!!!!
For anyone sensitive to Xylitol (it can cause stomach trouble in large enough quantities), or if you have a dog (it’s deadly to dogs), you can substitute Allulose for it (vitacost has it for a reasonable price). Like Xylitol or sugar, it will also caramelize, but like erythritol it is only 70% as sweet as sugar (you may need to add a bit more stevia then).
I used 1/2 tsp of toffee flavored liquid stevia for this recipe instead of powdered, and also added 1/4 tsp of blackstrap molasses (1.25 carbs extra for whole recipe, but it really jacks up the flavor). I used a bit more than a cup of chopped raw pecans instead, and toasted them in the butter to impart their flavor to it.
Poured it all into a 8″x8″ silicone mold set onto a cold aluminum pan, that is currently sitting in my fridge cooling. I plan to freeze them solid, cut them up into bars, and dip them in sweetened chocolate, put them on a sil-pat lined pan, and stick back into the fridge for later eating.
Sounds delicious! Which recipe were you making?
Love your recepies Taryn. Im, from Australia and have been following your blog for a couple of years and love all your recipies I’ve tried. Congratulations on your site. I was wondering if you can tell me by using your sweetner blend to make jam will it crystalise ? Thanks again for a great site.
It should not. I use it in my jams all the time 🙂
This was the very first alternative “Gentle Sweet” recipe that I tried and is still the one I do every single time. Much more cost effective and works beautifully in all the recipes that I’ve made.
Even though this sweetener has zero net carbs, my calculation comes up with 30 calories per tablespoon because of the xylitol. Am I correct? Just something to keep in mind if you’re also counting calories on Keto.
Would I be able to use liquid stevia drops?
Possibly, but I have no idea how many drops. You would have to figure out the conversion and then mix it into the other sweeteners and let it dry.
Greetings! Are you sensitive to the cooling effect of Erythritol? If so, do you find that your recipe diminishes the effect? Thanks!
Yes and yes. I do not enjoy anything with straight erythritol. This combo helps minimize the cooling effect.
Your ingredients say:
Weight measurements:
▢12 oz erythritol
▢16 oz xylitol
▢2 tsp Better Stevia or any pure stevia extract.
Then you explain that Xylitol can be made using just erythritol and stevia if you do not want to use xylitol because of a pet in the house. How much Stevia and erythritol do you recommend to use in replacement of the 16 oz of xylitol?
You would use 28 oz erythritol and still use 2 tsp of stevia. Or for half a batch you can use 14 oz erythritol to 1 tsp of stevia.
Can I use powdered Stevia?
Is stevia the only ingredient? You want a pure stevia extract. It is a powder.
I am not getting the same carb count per serving that you list for the recipe. Just the erythritol alone is 4.5 carbs per serving. And I haven’t counted the Xylitol or Stevia yet.
1 serving of erythritol linked in the recipe is 8g of carbs per 2 tsp.
If I do the math correct, there are 72 tsp in 12oz.
1 tsp contains 4 carbs = 72 * 4 = 288 carbs for 12oz.
288 carbs divided by the 64 servings for the recipe gives 4.5 carbs per serving.
Are there lower carb products that I should be using?
You need to subtract the sugar alcohols.