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Substitutions In The Kitchen
I love it when I tweak a recipe and it turns out great. Yesterday, we had a picnic with the people I work with at the library, and I decided to bake blueberry muffins to take along. I had all the ingredients on hand except eggs. The recipe called for one egg, and we had zero. So I decided to mash a banana and see if that would work. The muffins turned out great, and disappeared quickly.
Today, we had a family gathering in preparation for my husband’s cousin’s wedding tomorrow. The blueberry muffins yesterday had been such a hit that I decided to bake another batch to take along today. I started getting out the various ingredients, and discovered that not only did we still not have any eggs, we were also out of bananas. So I dug through the fruit bowl and found a large ripe plum. Into the blender it went, and I added pureed plum to my muffin batter. I have to say, they were even better than the batch I made with the banana.
So if you’re making muffins and you are out of eggs or eating vegan, add some sort of mashed fruit and it will probably turn out great. Applesauce would have worked, but we didn’t have any, and were also out of apples (can you tell I need to go to the store?). I experiment with recipes all the time, and I rarely have all the ingredients on hand. But with baking, it’s a little tougher, since the wet/dry ratio is pretty important. I’ve found that I can always use less sugar than a recipe calls for and have it turn out fine (not a huge amount less, but if it calls for 3/4 cup, I’ll just use 1/2, etc.), and now I know that muffins without eggs are fine too.
I’ve found that trips to the store for just one thing usually end up being more expensive than I planned, because I invariably see other things while I’m there. So if I can eliminate a trip to the store just to pick up eggs or whatever recipe item I’m missing, I figure I’m ahead of the game. Using up something I already have on hand is faster, easier, and cheaper. And those muffins were darn good.
hehe…
well done with the new recipes frugal babe.
and yes, it does seem like you need to go to the store.
September 13th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
good to know. I replaced eggs with mashed up bananas once in a brownie recipe–MAJOR DISASTER. don’t do this, it was completely disgusting!
September 14th, 2008 at 12:29 am
@Sense - I researched it online first - didn’t want a major disaster
What I read was the muffins were the easiest thing to do egg substitutions in. Especially if they already have fruit in them. And if there’s only one egg in the recipe, it’s pretty easy, whereas you wouldn’t want to replace three eggs in a cake recipe with bananas.
September 14th, 2008 at 9:40 am
That’s good to know (and also about it not working in brownies). I rarely eat eggs and only keep them around for occasional brownies, cookies or cake. I bake so rarely the eggs go bad. I think I will look in to egg sustitutes and maybe a powdered egg for chocolate desserts. I’m tired of wasting eggs.
September 14th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Good to know that the fruit substitutions worked so well in your muffins. I tend to be a bit too cavalier in my substitutions - and sometimes it doesn’t work out
One thing I almost always do when baking is to replace half the oil with applesauce. I read this someplace a while ago, and it has never failed me.
September 15th, 2008 at 5:54 am
I love the idea of plum puree in muffins! I often replace half the butter in cookie recipes with applesauce. Only ones that make sense, like oatmeal raisin — Ch. chip might be a little weird. And in peanut butter cookies, since the PB is oily, I replace all the butter with applesauce. they are light and delicious! I use the traditional Joy of Cooking recipe.
September 15th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Great idea! I’m trying to get more comfortable making substitutions. I’ll have to remember to do a little research on the ole internet next time.
September 17th, 2008 at 2:38 pm