As I go through my pantry, I realize that I am low on my granulated sugar from the baking I’ve done these past couple of weeks. Ugh! Granulated sugar is used a lot in your everyday baking and cooking. However, today I want to share with you a very versatile sweetener that I was first introduced to when I was baking for the Share Our Strength campaign.  For the past few days, I’ve been using Natural Sucanat, aka Whole Cane Sugar. I have a huge bag in my pantry leftover from this past summer’s baking. After a little bit of research over the summer, I found that this sugar is simply dehydrated organically-grown sugar cane. Its crystals remain rich in minerals, trace elements and vitamins. White sugar is highly processed including being cleaned with phosphoric acid, calcium hydroxide and then filtered through bone char. As a mom, I’m always searching for healthier ways to bake and cook for my family.

Sweeten Your Baking This Holiday

 Whole cane sugar can be a great substitute for white granulated sugar.  When it comes to using this sugar, you’ll taste great results.

Here’s a delicious recipe I found and adapted with a couple of different ingredients to try. I used canned berries, which I had on hand in the pantry, but fresh berries would be great too. It can also be a great alternative when baking holiday goods for your next holiday cookie swap:

Berry Oatmeal Bars:

Ingredients:

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole cane sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, (1/2 cup)

3/4 cup oats

2 Tablespoons water

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon lemon juice, plus 1 teaspoon of lemon zest

1 14.6 ounce can berry combo, juices drained

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 8×8 baking pan with butter or baking spray. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, add flour, sugar, salt and butter. With a pastry blender, blend until mixture is a crumbly consistency. Knead in oats. Reserve 1/2 cup of dough mixture.

Press the remaining dough in greased baking pan. In a small bowl, lightly stir berries, lemon juice, lemon zest and almond extract. Spread the berry mixture evenly over the dough in the pan. Top with remaining dough and brown sugar.

Bakes for 25 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove from oven. Cool for 20 minutes before slicing. sprinkle powdered sugar over the top before serving.