Fructose-Friendly Cream Cheese Frosting

 I-don't-always bake, but-when-I-do, I bake up a storm.

One of the most difficult things for me about going fructose-free is the inability to eat sweet stuff that I personally bake. Last week was my husband's birthday (Pi Day!) and I made him some delicious chocolate cupcakes with red licorice filling and cream cheese frosting. I got to have one bite.

Sad face. :(

The good thing about not being able to eat sweets is that I savor them more when I do get that one bite. The bad thing is, well, I don't need to tell you the bad thing.

I decided to attempt a fructose-friendly cream cheese frosting today, based on the ridiculously delicious NOT fructose-friendly Cream Cheese Frosting recipe on allrecipes.com. Oh, days where I was ignorant of the pain that sugar caused me, how I... sort of... miss you.

Two things to note:

First, since giving up sugary treats, I find that I no longer need the oodles of sugar that are in most baked goods. I did a few taste tests to find out what the minimum sugar level I found tasty and increased it by a small amount.

Second, you have to know your tolerance. (My upper limit is 5g of fructose per sitting and that's pushing it.) I wanted this to have the same smooth flavor as the allrecipes cream cheese and glucose (also known as dextrose) sits too hard on my tongue. I used a small amount of powdered sugar in my preferred recipe; however, in the second recipe, I give a fructose-free version.

If it's not sweet enough, increase the amount of glucose by 1 Tablespoon and then taste it again. (This won't increase your fructose content.)

This picture is of half the recipe.

(For those who are mathematically challenged, the "per Tablespoon" amount is the same even if you half or double the recipe.)

Fructose-Friendly Cream Cheese Frosting
Yield: ~2 cups or 32 Tablespoons
Fructose:  ~1.5g per Tablespoon or 48g for the entire recipe

8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup glucose
1.5 teaspoons homemade vanilla extract

Or if you put all your fructose into whatever you're frosting, here's the glucose-only recipe:

Fructose-Free Cream Cheese Frosting
Yield: ~2 cups or 32 Tablespoons
Fructose: ~0 per Tbsp

8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup + 1.5 Tablespoons glucose
1.5 teaspoons homemade vanilla extract

Leave out the cream cheese and butter to soften for a few hours. Cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla extract. Add in the powdered sugar and glucose a few tablespoons at a time. Store in the refrigerator after use.

(And, if you're not familiar, glucose/dextrose can be found in most health food stores. I also found mine at Bulk Barn. Sometimes it's called "corn sugar.")

Homemade Vanilla Extract

When I first discovered that I had fructose malabsorption, reading labels was an exciting event.  First, I had to become with the terminology and phraseology.  I had to learn the difference between "high fructose corn syrup" (bad) and "corn syrup" (good - glucose-only, assuming it's real).  I had to research gums and decide whether I wanted to try them.  But then, I started to get annoyed.  Were all foods chock full of appalling and disgusting ingredients?  Did manufacturer's have to put sugar in everything?  Did there have to be unpronounceable ingredients in every last thing that I ate?

When I delved into baking (thank you, gluten-free recipes!), vanilla extract was no exception.  At my local grocery store, real vanilla extract had "SUGAR" prominently displayed as the second ingredient on the label, and imitation vanilla extract had the cryptic "natural flavoring" that any good health food nut / conspiracy theorist / person like me who's done a bit of research (ha) will tell you is something you want to avoid.

So when I saw this simple yet elegant recipe on pinterest (love you, pinterest), I decided to try it:

Homemade Vanilla Extract on Allrecipes.com

It took me some detective work:  I had no idea if or where I could find vanilla beans; however, it turns out that my local Bulk Barn has them in stock for $4.75 for two.  My store had them in little vials at one of the front counters and were apparently popular because I got the last five vials.

The vodka I chose proudly proclaims that it's made with potatoes.  (Did you know that a lot of vodkas aren't nowadays?  Yeah, totally awesome, thanks, cheap consumerism.)  I've read two theories on alcohol:  The first says that all wheat-based alcohols should be avoided and thus I must ensure that I drink only potato- or rice-based alcohol.  The second theory says that the fermentation process consumes the fructans in the wheat, and therefore even beer is safe to drink.  Since I don't like beer and I'd rather have vodka made with potatoes, thank you very much, I am careful with what and the brands that I drink.  And, final thought on alcohol:  Don't drink too much because it's a gut irritant.  Yet another reason to be the DD?

I've researched whether or not vanilla beans contain any fructose or fructans; however, I've been unable to come up with anything.  The book IBS-Free at Last! Second Edition. Change Your Carbs, Change Your Life advises that herbs and spices have not yet been tested for FODMAP composition; however, both real and imitation vanilla extracts are on the "use in small doses" list.

As I've researched frustose malabsorption, I came across one FM recipe blogger who advised that I think about the recipes as a whole instead of trying to avoid everything on the list all the time.  She had posted a recipe that called for tomato paste, which I very well knew was on the bad list (and I always know what I know, when I know it!!).  When I questioned her, she answered, "If a recipe uses 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, remember that it gets divided by the total number of servings, so a recipe serving 6 people would only have a teaspoon per serving. That should be tolerated easily."

Makes total sense to me.  And I shall use that same philosophy for my homemade vanilla extract.  Recipes usually call for one teaspoons or tablespoon, meaning that only a tiny bit goes into the final product.  This probably means that even the real vanilla extract containing sugar should be fine; however, the more I can control what I eat, I do now.  The homemade vanilla extra should be tolerable, assuming I don't drink it.

Although homemade vanilla-infused vodka might be good.  I shall have to keep that in mind.