Brownie Test Alternative Sweetener #1

Back in July 2020, I was sent this small bag of Pereg Zero Calorie Sweetener from the Amazon Vine program for me to test and then review on their site. Using the same recipe as shown on the earlier announcement about this brownie baking series, I changed out cane sugar for this Erythritol sweetener. Other than the free 14 ounce bag of this brand's sugar substitute, no other form of compensation was received in exchange for my sharing my honest opinions based upon my use of the product and the final results. This article on The Chocolate Cult is an expected bonus for that brand.


The bag is very small for the price of it; on October 14, 2020, it is 63¢ an ounce. This wasn't quite enough for the recipe so I had to use 1/3 cup of another product of the same chemical make up that I've reviewed in the past. Unlike every other zero calorie sweetener I've test for this blog, this one required more of the product in comparison to plain cane sugar -- 1 1/3 cups of Pereg for each cup of sugar. That's kind crazy and I confess that I am worried about what this product will make the brownie like, feel, and taste like.

Here is the original Hershey's Brownie for comparison.

Basic Hershey's Brownie

As I mixed the recipe in the same order and the same way as before, I noticed that the Pereg product was grainier in texture and made a firmer, stickier batter. I could still spread it in the pan that I baked it in, but it didn't pour out as easier as the brownies made with cane sugar and all purpose flour did.

Pereg Brownies

As you can see in the photo above, the resulting brownies were darker around the edges, harder, and denser. There was also a lot of bubbles over the top. Depending on how dark or burnt the outside edges are, we may need to toss those because I'm not feeding my family burnt brownies even if the overall number of fewer calories in the entire pan is 1546 compared to those made with cane sugar. I did not like these at all! They were so sweet that I couldn't taste the cocoa and that makes brownies worthless to me. Yuck to Pereg as a sugar substitute.

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