You can substitute Agave for any sweetener in a recipe. For example,

• Honey: Replace each cup of honey with one cup of agave syrup.
• Corn Syrup: When replacing a cup of light corn syrup, use 1/2 as much agave, and increase other liquids in the recipe by up to 1/3 of a cup. Like corn syrup, agave nectar will not crystallize.
• White Sugar: For each cup of white sugar replaced, use 2/3 of a cup of agave and reduce other liquids by 1/4 to 1/3 cup.
• Brown Sugar: For each cup of white sugar replaced, use 2/3 of a cup of agave and reduce other liquids by 1/4 cup.
• Check out this link for a full list of substitution ratios.

On Saturday I made two kinds of Vegan Brownies with agave nectar.

The first was Agave Vegan Brownies, a take on these brownies, minus the cinnamon and walnuts. The result was a fudgy and moist brownie, which I love – almost like the batter wasn’t quite baked enough! Agave is quite sweet and so these brownies are quite sweet. Mark kept asking if they were made with fruit, specifically, he tasted prunes. I think this might be because he assumes I bake with weird things, but they were very sweet. Next time I would either reduce the amount of agave, or add the cinnamon to cut the sweetness. I would mention that these required much more than 15 minutes of baking.

In the second batch, Pecan Butter & Cinnamon Brownies, I used the cinnamon and added about 1/2 cup of fresh Pecan Butter. I enjoyed the layers of taste that the cinnamon and Pecan Butter added better than the super sweet first batch, but they were a little dry. The texture of these was more like a solid piece of fudge than a moist or gooey brownie.

The moral of this baking story is that baking with agave is fun and delicious!

And if you want your very own agave nectar you are in luck!!!!! I am donating a bag of Trader Joe’s goodies to Angela’s Shop 4 A Cause. One item in the goody bag is Trader Joe’s Organic Blue Agave Sweetener!!!