Who doesn't love honey? It's sweet, it's delicious, and it has so many health benefits. But what if I told you that there is a way to have your honey cake and eat it too? If you are one of the many people that have decided to cut back on sugar, or just want to try something new in the kitchen, honey is a great alternative to sugar and it can be used in all sorts of recipes. Not only will your dessert taste better than ever before, but you'll feel great knowing that you just did something good for yourself at the same time. Follow these 5 easy tips to make the switch to using honey instead of sugar in your next recipe.
1. Temperatures
The natural sugars in honey caramelize quickly and can burn faster than white sugar. To avoid burning your honey, be sure to lower your oven temperature by about 25 degrees from what the recipe recommends.
2. Acidity
Honey is naturally acidic. Too much acid in a recipe, especially in baked goods, can alter the final product. You can add a small amount of baking soda to neutralize the acid in the honey. This isn't necessary for all recipes, but if your recipe calls for acidic or alkaline ingredients, this is an easy way to balance it out.
3. Moisture
It's important to understand that roughly 1/5 of honey is water. When cooking with honey, this water content will contribute to the recipe's total liquid content. If you don't adjust your measurements, you may get an undesired result. If you are replacing small amounts of sugar with honey the effect of the extra water is negligible however, if using 1/4 cup or more of honey, you should reduce the amount of other liquids to offset the water in the honey.
4. Working With Honey
Honey is very sticky! If too much is left inside of the measuring cup, you won't have enough in your mix. The easy fix is to apply a light coat of vegetable spray to your utensils before measuring to make it easier to pour out. The honey will slide right out!
5. How to Convert Your Measurements
Converting from sugar to honey is not a 1-to-1 conversion. Honey tends to be sweeter so most recipes will need less honey than sugar. Generally, your honey measurements will be about 75% of the sugar measurements. We've put together an easy chart below.
| Sugar | Honey | Reduce Liquids By | Baking Soda |
| 1 tbsp | 2 tsp | n/a | n/a |
| 1/4 cup | 2 tbsp 2 tsp | n/a | 1/8 tsp |
| 1/2 cup | 1/3 cup | 2 tsp | 1/4 tsp |
| 1 cup | 3/4 cup | 2 1/2 tbsp | 1/2 tsp |
| 2 cups | 1 1/2 cup | 5 tbsp | 1 tsp |
Honey is a great alternative to sugar and it can be used in all sorts of recipes. Not only will your dessert taste better than ever before, but you'll feel great knowing that you just did something good for yourself at the same time. Honey has its own set of rules and techniques when cooking with it. They may seem daunting at first, but once you start using honey instead of sugar in your recipes; you'll wonder why you didn't make the switch sooner!
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