Fruit-Sweet and Sugar-Free: Prize-Winning Pies, Cakes, Pastries, Muffins, and Breads from the Ranch Kitchen Bakery (Healing Arts Press)

While some people complain that they cannot fine the fruit juice concentrate she uses, one can easily substitue any concentrated fruit juice, as she clearly explains in the brilliant introduction. I live in Israel and have had great success with the concentrates I can find here. Even die-hard sugar fans wouldn't guess that some of the cakes I have made are sugar free. A great cookbook!


Good book but you need to experiment with substitutions   December 4, 2001
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

I wanted a book that would give me ideas about how to cook without sugar - the proportions one would need of a liquid ( of any sort) that would replace dry sugar in a recipe. I have not used the sweetener the author uses but substitute what I can find - i.e. apple butter, fruit sweetner from Black River in Mississauga, Ont, Canada (comes in small 500 ml sizes for about $5.00 bottle)and the recipes have turned out very nicely. I would love to try her sweetener too but oh well..
This book was a good introduction to how to cook without sugar- if you like experimenting with anything sweet that is not straight sugar. You just need to be a little inventive and use her proportions!


Fruit-Sweet and Sugar-Free: Prize-Winning Pies, Cakes, Pastr   March 28, 2001
 12 out of 18 found this review helpful

I too was disappointed in this cookbook. I bought it with the same assumption as the other disappointed woman who submitted a review of 2 stars. The fruit sweetner is is sold as a commercial made product only and not for the average consumer in mind. You can order it through a natural food store, but you have to purchase a case of 4 gallons at $35.00 per gallon. Obviously this is not something the average home can afford to buy nor store. She does offer the options of substituting fruit juice concentrates for the fruit sweetner, but she doesn't tell you which ones to use in place each recipe. Ex. Do you you use apple, white grape, orange or a combination of these for a particular recipe. Also she recommends to cook down the fruit juice concentrates before using them. This is time consumming and not beneficial to a family on the go. I would like for her to rewrite this book for the average consumer in mind.


Disappointing...   October 11, 2000
 5 out of 9 found this review helpful

I bought this book thinking it would be a healthy and tasty way to cut down on sugar. After I got it and read through the Introduction and the recipes, I realized the author calls for the use of a concentrated fruit sweetener that is very hard to get. She buys her supply in 1,500 pound shipments from a fruit processing company in California. I don't think too many people have access to something like that without a lot of trouble and expense. The recipes looked delicious, though. There are a few that do call for frozen juice concentrates. I just wish I had found a cookbook that was made for real people instead of professional bakers.


What a fabulaous cook book!   April 13, 2000
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

I have owned this cook book since 1994. The recipes are easy to follow with good instructions and illistrations. I really enjoy the Old Fashioned Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and the American Beauty Apple Pie. You cannot tell that there is not refined sugar in them. I have taken many items to work and social occasions, with rave reviews. I gave up refined sugars in 1993 and I feel better and have more energy. This book made the transition easy. I would love to find a Volume 2 available.