Stevia – First we swapped sugar for the well known, zero sugar alternative, Stevia. By substituting the sugar for Stevia. Stevia is considered as one of the best sweeteners to bake with because when the temperatures rise in the oven, stevia does not lose the sweet taste. It does not provide the same texture or taste as sugar as Stevia is 200 to 300 times more sweet than regular granulated sugar. So within the recipe, we will be adding the same amount of stevia as sugar, which would lead the krumkakes to have an overwhelmingly sweet taste, but still not cause any real physical difference in the Krumkakes other than possible flakiness.
Honey – Honey is a tricky ingredient to substitute for sugar with. By adding honey, you risk ruining the entire recipe unless added correctly. With the addition of honey, three things must occur. The first is that the other wet ingredients would have to decrease by ¼ cup each as to make sure the batter can still form when heated and doesn’t end up as a liquid mess. Secondly is that because honey is a wet ingredient, the density doesn’t match that of sugar, so honey must be accounted for ¾ cup for every 1 cup of sugar. Finally we need to decrease the baking time to prevent caramelization of the honey as it caramelizes much quicker than granulated sugar. The result of the honey will still cause the Krumkakes to have a much different texture as it will likely not be as crisp as those with normal sugar and would possibly fluff up as a result of holding moisture better than sugar.
Erythritol: The final substitute is Erythritol. Erythritol is a sugar alcohol that many use as an alternative to both sugar and zero sugar substitutes. Erythritol is a very volatile ingredient as it is able to crystallize rapidly when heated, so to prevent that we are adding no more than half a cup. This is due to how thin the krumkakes must be so they are liable to crystallizing or burning incredibly quick, so we will also decrease the time under the press to prevent both outcomes. The result if done correctly would likely be a good looking krumkake, however there will be a major difference in taste as Erythritol is only around 60-80% as sweet as normal granulated sugar. There is also a cooling off factor with the substitute as it loses sweetness overtime so they would have to be eaten sooner rather than later to really experience the taste.
