A few months ago (back in April) Luke and I gave up sugar. I’m not going to lie, it was hard. But to be honest, it’s not the withdrawals, or the tempatation that’s hard. It’s the convenience. If you’re out and about and you want to buy something, there is sugar is nearly all of it. Feel like a muffin? Well your only option is to make it yourself. For a lover of cooking like me, this isn’t a huge problem, but it’s just… inconvenient when you’re at a coffee shop and that’s what you feel like!

We do break the rules sometimes. Yesterday I really needed a coffee. I’m not a coffee drinker at all, so just having one straight isn’t an option (Coffee shops in Europe were quite hellish because of this- no one’s ever heard of a mocha!!), so I had a mocha instead. Yes, heaps of sugar. But realistically, since April this is only my second mocha. I think I’m doing pretty good!!

**If you’re not familiar with our sugar free journey, then it’s worth me mentioning that we’re not off ALL types of sugar. We don’t eat processed fructose (fructose from from fruit/vegies). We still eat fruit etc. in it’s WHOLE form, but no juices, or ‘table sugar’ that you get in the supermarket. We do eat glucose, maltose, lactose etc. If you’re interested in this sort of thing then we HIGHLY recommend David Gillespe’s book Sweet Poison**

There are a few things that, despite trying. A lot. I just can’t seem to make the same as the bought stuff. One thing I HAVE learnt how to make, that is remarkably similar to the bought stuff though, is condensed milk! It’s such a simple thing to make!

This is based off this recipe at Down To Earth, and then modified to be fructose free.

2/3 Cup Liquid glucose
1/3 Cup boiling water
1 Cup Powdered milk (make sure you read the packet and get a brand that doesn’t ADD sugar to it)
3 tbs Butter

Put the liquid glucose and boiling water in a bowl, and mix. The glucose is usually VERY sticky, so this softens it a bit. Add the powdered milk and butter. Mix it around till it’s all combined!

The original instructions over at Down to Earth recommended mixing them in a blender or something, but I found that if I added the butter quick enough, it melted, and everything else just mixed together well! If your butter has’t melted properly though, just put some hot water in your sink, and rest your bowl in there. That will heat up the mix a bit, and help it to melt.

Photos to put it onto context!
(Sorry for the dodgy photos- only had my iPhone on hand!)