Where can granulated sugar, brown sugar, honey, splenda (et al), agave nectar, real maple syrup, etc. be used interchangeably and where can it NOT be substituted?

Splenda alone is not so good in baking. I use the Splenda/Sugar baking mixes, both the white and brown with excellent results.
For creaming butter, whipping egg whites for meringues, you still need some sugar for friction but the white Splenda/Sugar baking mix works beautifully and you can use it 1:1, no cutting down on the amount as with regular Splenda. Same with the Splenda/Brown sugar baking mix which works beautifully in cookies.
Granulated Splenda is supposed to be used 1:1 also but I find food is much too sweet so I cut it by 1/3 to 1/2 depending on the other ingredients. In pumpkin pie - the custard type - I use 2/3 the amount of [b]granulated[/b] Splenda.

Splenda or any other sweetener (using the correct ratio) can be used in any liquid or semi-liquid mixture - it mixes well with gelatin.
And here is a "trick" that I discovered a few years ago when working with gelatin.
Adding a couple of tablespoons of the clear-dissolving fiber products, such as Benefiber (I use the Walmart store brand) will help to stabilize any gelatin product to keep it from weeping when setting out on a buffet. And, it add fiber!
And no one can tell it is in the mix! If you have a family member who needs additional fiber in their diet but is reluctant to eat the regular type, this is a way to sneak it into the food.

Thanks, andiesenji. You've covered splenda really well.

If I wanted to make a simple syrup and not use granulated or brown sugar, how would one do it with other sweeteners?
barley malt sweetener....
real maple sugar or maple sugar granules....
agave syrup....
honey....

Also, using the concept of kitchen chemistry, where is granulated or brown sugar better than splenda?

[quote="MsMarm"]Thanks, andiesenji. You've covered splenda really well.

If I wanted to make a simple syrup and not use granulated or brown sugar, how would one do it with other sweeteners?
barley malt sweetener....
real maple sugar or maple sugar granules....
agave syrup....
honey....

Also, using the concept of [color=#FF0080]kitchen chemistry[/color], where is granulated or brown sugar better than splenda?[/quote]

One of the reasons for using part sugar is that baked goods made only with Splenda dry out and stale more rapidly.
I've been baking with Splenda since it became available and my experience with using just Splenda has not been totally successful. Prior to the introduction of the Splenda/Sugar mixes, I was combining the two with caster or superfine sugar.

I have two or three Splenda cookbooks and even with those recipes have had to do some modification to get the result I want. I am rather picky about thee quality of my baked goods so perhaps others would find them acceptable.

If you want a simple syrup, why are you considering maple syrup and honey? They already have a syrup texture. Also a very distinctive taste which will work in some things but not others. (I'm not sure what agave syrup tastes like). I suspect some of the syrups, whether diluted with water or not, would be rather strange in, say, iced tea.

The whole point of a simple syrup, as I understand it, is a liquified pre-dissolved version of a granular sweetener to be used in drinks that you wish to sweeten so that you don't have grains of sugar sitting undissolved at the bottom.

Alice, behind the request is a recipe for homemade apple chips. http://pallensmith.com/food/recipes/cin ... pple-chips

The recipe calls for soaking mandolin-sliced apples in simple syrup before baking. For those families who are using non-cane/non-beet sweeteners, I wanted to offer alternatives.

Simple syrups are also used in gelato, a base for making rock candy, for soaking sponge and pound cakes among other uses.