All this talk about cholesterol lowering spreads and Splenda were in my mind today when I went shopping. So I decided to try an experiment, and made the chocolate chip cookie recipe I posted last week, substituting Flora Proactive (our equivalent of Benecol) for the stick of butter, and Splenda for the white sugar in the recipe. There was still plain flour, chocolate chips, eggs and brown sugar in the recipe. I used the full fat version of Proactive - the light and extra light ones aren't suitable for baking or frying.
First thing to note was that the cookies looked good. I read a quote once that said you eat first with your eyes, and these certainly looked the real deal. The cookie itself is a bit yellower on the inside when broken in half, but other than that, it was golden and brown. Taste ? I have to say it was ok, although I have a bit of an aftertaste from the Splenda. I think I'll try again with just the Proactive and normal sugars - if for no other reason than because the Splenda is really very expensive. Pete quite liked them, and was happy to eat them, but I'd like to experiment some more.
I found a convincing reason not to eat artificial sweeteners - I won't let the kids eat them. So clearly if I'm not happy with them having it, I really shouldn't be happy with me having it. Ok, let me rephrase that - I found a convincing reason why I shouldn't eat artificial sweeteners..