While we were celebrating Swerve Breakfast Month, I decided to expand my repertoire and experiment with homemade pop tarts.

It seemed like a no-brainer. A convenient, potentially healthy breakfast treat, beloved by adults and kids around the world that, in their natural state are highly unhealthy. Perfect.

I started with the delicious looking recipe posted on Smitten Kitchen – http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/04/homemade-pop-tarts/ – which seemed easy and a perfect starting point for a Swerve makeover.

So, (spoiler alert) long story short, they were a complete failure. Sure they tasted good (really good) but they were, let’s say hideous and I’ve rarely experienced something harder to make. After talking to several esteemed friends, I’ve come to the conclusion that the climate was wrong. When I started out, it was a beautiful, cool morning so I left the windows open. By the time the dough was ready, it had become hot and humid but I was so engrossed I didn’t notice so the moisture content in the kitchen and in the dough was way too high. The dough became slick, yet sticky and wouldn’t roll out evenly. While the recipe claimed a serving size of 8 pastries, I only managed to eke out four.

The second downside of this is that they were too thick and doughy and took longer to bake and had a poor proportion of filling.

Speaking of filling, this was the highlight of the experience for me. Most pop tarts call for jams or preserves as filling and while I wanted to keep the sweet fruity feel, I obviously wanted to avoid sugars in the filling. I settled on two options. Firstly, I tried a mixture of dried fruits (I used blueberries and apricots) that had been soaked in a Swerve simple syrup mixture then pureed to a paste. My second idea was to simmer a coffee liquor to remove the alcohol (you could leave it in for an adult treat in the evenings) and mixed it together with ground almonds to a texture similar to peanut butter. I’m not sure what else I could do with this combination but I was quite happy simply eating it with a spoon!

Yes, of course there are still naturally occurring sugars in both of these, I wouldn’t recommend them for all diets.

It’s sometimes good to make mistakes like this. Not only does it force you to really think about your process rather than blindly following a recipe, it takes away that layer of overconfidence that sometimes overtakes bakers like me. A little humility in the kitchen goes a long way.

I thought it was time to dust the flour out of my hair and fill you in on some happenings in the Swerve Test Kitchen and beyond.

Lately, we’ve been on the road a lot sharing the sweetness with lots of new friends. It’s funny; when we’re up to our eyeballs in Swerve (almost literally) we sometimes forget just how remarkable it is. When we’re explaining Swerve to someone that hasn’t come across it before, we get excited all over again.

Most recently, we were chatting with a health and wellness blogger who is always searching for the ideal sugar alternative. She had all the usual objections to the ‘other guys’ and just hadn’t stumbled upon Swerve yet. While we told all how Swerve was all-natural and had no glycemic response, no aftertaste or cooling effect, it think what really won her over was the cupcake we gave her. I got the feeling, she hadn’t eaten a truly sugar free yet ‘regular’ tasting cupcake in years. It was a beautiful moment for her and for us!

Something else new is our 8oz shaker canister. It’s easy to use, easy to seal and takes up almost no room on your counter. Need another plus? It’s refillable. It’s available on our site and from Amazon.

http://www.swervesweetener.com/products-page

http://www.amazon.com/Swerve-Canister-8oz-Sweetener/dp/B007N7KUL2/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1332869872&sr=8-11

All of this ‘business stuff has kept us out of the kitchen a little but don’t worry, we also have some exciting new recipes coming soon. We’ll share them with y’all on Facebook and Twitter. We also love seeing all of your baking photos so keep them coming – you can always post to Facebook or email them to hello@swervesweetener.com

I bought myself a present recently that changed my life. It’s one of those all in one toaster-egg poacher-egg boiler-meat warmer ‘thingys’ (that’s the industry term for them, I believe).

It is truly the definition of a machine that once you have; you don’t know how you ever did without. I can make two breakfast sandwiches in no time flat or 8 perfect hard or soft boiled eggs. If that wasn’t good enough – you can ‘set it and forget it’. It turns itself off when it’s done. As I type this, I’m munching on an egg white and cheese sandwich on homemade English muffins (everyone should make their own muffins – it’s incredibly easy and delicious, I use a recipe adapted from www.allrecipes.com).

I’ve always been a breakfast eater but it was typically a refueling exercise – something to be done as quickly as possible, now, I get to indulge in a delicious hot breakfast every day without sacrificing any sleep.

One thing that’s beautiful about this machine is the attention to detail. It comes with two different shaped egg trays – round for muffins and bagels, square for bread. It has a built in storage compartment, it’s incredibly easy to wash up and it actually looks quite stylish.

If you’re currently drooling and/or jealous, you can find one on Amazon and most electronics retailers.

That said, for those of us who are careful about what we eat, it’s a day loaded with potential pitfalls (maybe second only to Halloween?). I’ve got nothing against cards and flowers and I’ll never say no to a diamond or two but, ultimately, to me, Valentines Day is about the food (and yes, I acknowledge the trend, I can make almost any day revolve around food…..). Surely, the best way to show someone you care is with a home cooked meal featuring a memorable dessert? So, with that in mind, what to make for that special someone?

I want to make something healthy that doesn’t taste healthy, and, of course, Valentines Day this year is on a school day so nothing that takes too long to make or clean up. This is what I’m planning… First course, Oysters on the half-shell with a champagne vinegar mignonette. Oysters are the perfect romantic appetizer. They’re really very easy to prepare, almost no clean up and super healthy. I found a great mignonette recipe on epicurious.com, which could easily be made the day before (not that I’m that organized).

2 teaspoons Champagne vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped shallot

Pinch of coarsely ground black pepper

Pinch of Swerve

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Simply mix everything except the parsley and let sit for at least 30 minutes then stir in the parsley at the last minute. If you’re not a fan of raw oysters, this is delicious over broiled oysters as well.

For the entrée, I have some beautiful salmon steaks, just crying out for a marinade. We tend to enjoy Asian influenced flavors in the Swerve house so I’m using my go-to teriyaki marinade/glaze. A little soy sauce, Swerve, sake, garlic, ginger, and vegetable oil in any amounts you like, let the flavors marry for at least an hour and then you’re ready to go. I’m going to wrap the steaks in foil and bake in the oven but this is also delicious on the grill! Serve with some wilted Asian greens (bok choy is a good choice) and a brown rice pilaf.

Dessert is easy! Nothing says love like chocolate, right? I have a recipe for chocolate tart that is a never-fail hit. It’s a bit rich and heavy so this year, I’m going to shrink the recipe and make bite sized individual tarts. Voila – instant portion control. I think that all sounds good on paper! Now, it’s off to the grocery store and hoping it all works out on the table. Wish me luck, Sweeties!

I wanted to try something different over the weekend so after taking requests on Facebook (thanks to all that weighed in!) I settled on a brûléed, chocolate cheesecake.

(Full disclosure, I used a store bought shell – I wanted to make sure the cheesecake would turn out well – next time I’ll be making the crust from scratch although this recipe would be delicious without – maybe make individual cheesecakes in soufflé cups….?)

I started with a fairly standard cheesecake recipe I found online and melted some chocolate chips in a double boiler while I assembled the other ingredients. Once the chocolate had melted and cooled somewhat, I mixed it slowly in with the other ingredients and then straight into the shells and into the oven.

While the cheesecakes were baking, I also whipped up a blackberry syrup (glaze? compote? I’m not sure what I would call it) by cooking the berries over low heat with some water and Swerve granular, then pureeing and straining. This was great with the chocolate but would also be delicious over ice cream or almost any other dessert.

Once the cheesecakes were out of the oven, I realized the one problem with my plan. The beautiful chocolate brown of the cakes was almost the exact same color of caramelized sugar or Swerve so the traditional look of a brûlée was somewhat lost – very disappointing.

I tried two approaches – one of the cakes, I sliced in the traditional way, while the other, I cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter. I loved the look of this but it was a lot of extra work – I don’t think I’d do it again for home consumption.

The brûléeing was super simple, but takes some practice if you’re not used to it (I certainly need more practice). I like to hold the brûlée to-be in my hand and slowly rotate it on an angle so the caramelization is even, but beware of molten Swerve drops!

The photographic evidence is posted on our Facebook page but as they say, the proof is in the eating…… this one didn’t last long!

It’s been an amazing week in the Swerve kitchen. As some of you may have seen on our site, in a 24 period, we received over 20,000 sample requests! I know that many of those requesting samples are now our new friends on Facebook and Twitter, so let me take this opportunity to say howdy and how happy we are to meet all you. We’re so excited to be getting the Swerve word out to so many people.

If you are coming in late, we have some amazing recipes to share and we are always working on some new sweet treats in our test kitchen….. Look for our apple pie recipe later in the week for example. At the same time, we urge you all to share your baking with us, we always love to see photos of your successes (and commiserate with your, ahem, less than successful efforts – trust me, we’re far from perfect, but don’t spread that around). If you have any Swerve recipes you’d like to share, please post them on our Facebook page or email them to hello@swervesweetener.com

We have some other big projects in the works too – I can’t say too much but look out for some more contests on Facebook, some fun and cute Swerve baking accessories and apparel and maybe even some short videos. As busy as we are, is it any wonder that we always need a little something sweet for an afternoon snack?

Speaking of sweet things, we did a little entertaining in the Swerve home kitchen over the weekend, nothing fancy, just a last minute invite dinner with a few friends. While brainstorming (read scrambling) what to prepare, I remembered my all time favorite ‘two for the price of one’ recipe.

The local strawberries are at their best right now, so I bought a flat at the farmers market and sliced them into bite-sized pieces (maybe four cups for four people). I added a third of a cup of Swerve, a third of a cup of aged balsamic vinegar and a cup of regular balsamic then covered and set aside for three hours at room temperature.

Meanwhile, I made a simple salad modeled after a panzanella (bread salad). You can use whatever you like but I chose mixed baby lettuces, heirloom cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, avocado and feta cheese and two cups of stale French bread cut into rough chunks.

When it was time to serve the first course, I simply drained the vinegar from the strawberries over the salad – voila – sugar free, fat free strawberry vinaigrette.

The strawberries went into the fridge while the salad and entrée were served (lamb baked with olives and lemon juice if you’re curious) and waited for dessert.

By then, the strawberries had taken on a delicious sweet tang from the vinegar and I simply served them with (store bought, I admit) sugar-free lemon sorbet and garnished with a few mint leaves.

I hadn’t planned to write about this and unfortunately the light was terrible for photos but trust me when I say, the whole meal was delicious, low fat and sugar free, and how often do you get to make both an appetizer and dessert all in one AND that take less than 15 minute for both.

We’ve also enjoyed sending out the packets and samples of Swerve to help y’all along your way so we’ve decided that we can do more. Not only will we continue naming a Sweet-stakes winner every week for the rest of December, we will also be giving one lucky winner a years supply of Swerve along with some other goodies!

Is there a catch? Sort of….. in order to keep the Swerve coming throughout the year, you’ll have to keep us up updated on your progress so whether that’s a few pounds lost or another phrase in Spanish, we need to know that you’re keeping up the momentum.

How to enter? Simple! Simply post your resolution on our Facebook wall (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Swerve-Sweetener/182197565191252) then let us know about it in the comments section below. The grand prizewinner will be selected randomly, so keep up the motivation and great resolutions – from the everyday to the ‘resolutionary’.

Good luck Sweeties!

Now that the turkey leftovers are finished, roll on December. I doubt I’m alone in loving the spirit of the holidays: decorations, carols (in moderation) and, dare I say it, even a general sense of goodwill towards all. That said, the gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas seems to get shorter every year.

This year, I was cursing myself for not having holiday cards picked out before Thanksgiving, I decided not to bother putting the extra large roasting pan back in its usual space at the top of the tallest cabinet, and I know that I’ll be rushing to get the ‘good’ table linens back from the dry cleaner in time for the next round of guests.

When you factor in various holiday parties and the inevitable kids events, I’ve realized that my mind is in holiday mode from early November until at least the second week of January, and frankly, I’ve come to realize that it’s too much for me.

I’m sure you’re all waiting with bated breath to hear my solution to all of this, but sadly, I don’t have one. My mind is too busy trying to figure out the last possible day I can mail gifts to friends overseas. That’s the best part of having a blog sometimes, it’s a great way to get something off your chest!

Happy Holidays Sweeties!

Our friends over at www.alldayidreamaboutfood.com (if you haven’t checked out this site, you should – low carb, sugar free deliciousness) said it best in a recent post,

“It is a wonderful thing, when you think your choices are extremely limited, to discover that you have a lot more options than you thought. Even better, that those options appear to be increasing all the time. This is how I felt when I first found that my gestational diabetes was here to stay, that I was a diabetic for life. I thought that for baking, my sweetener options were limited to artificial products like sucralose and aspartame, neither of which I have ever much liked. What a delight, then, to discover a whole world of alternative sweeteners that were naturally derived and had little to no effect on my blood glucose levels.”

The team at Swerve is so proud to give our fellow foodies an outlet for their culinary creativity (and taste buds) while allowing them to manage their diabetes. We are also proud of and grateful for the thousands of people around the world working in diabetes care, treatment, education and research. These people are making a genuine difference in peoples’ lives.

We’re proudly wearing blue today and hope you are too.

This impulse that thrives among us has led to many sugar free triumphs (most recently raspberry cheesecake muffins) seems to reach a fever pitch around this time of year. A combination of cool weather and a parade of eating holidays means it would be almost unnatural not to think about baking every waking minute, right?

This year we’ve had the pleasure of enjoying an amazing vegan pumpkin bread made by Ali, aka the Healthy Hostess (www.thehealthyhostess.com) and Kim Stewart’s mouthwatering banana coconut cake (www.eatingbetweenthelines.net) and we’re only just into November.

The topic of debate currently, is the ‘best’ pie for thanksgiving. My immediate response to that is that the word pie in reference to thanksgiving should never be singular but if I had to nominate one, I’d say apple pie.

I’m blessed to spend every thanksgiving in the same house, hosted by in-laws. It’s always the same core group of family and friends supplemented by a wonderful revolving door cast of friends, neighbors, travelers and dates. With such a large group, there are always at least four pies, apple, pumpkin, pecan and a cream pie and typically multiples of each. Every single one is without fail, amazing but it’s always the apple pie that is finished first and is to my mind, the most evocative.

My favorite apple pie is made by an elderly family member with apples from her own orchard and the best thing is the way she manages to bring subtle variations without changing the overall character of the pie. Whether it’s a slightly different balance of spices, a handful of berries or a crisscross of frosting, each year her pie manages to be a familiar and comforting as an old sweater but new and exciting at the same time.

It’s a great trick and the first thing I always think about when I start thinking about holiday baking. I’d love to share the recipe but do you think she’ll tell me? Not in a million years. It’ll be sad when the day comes that her pies aren’t part of our thanksgiving anymore but all the more reason to head to the kitchen and start working on new traditions.