Substitutions!

[SeeofTrees]

What's your favorite substitutions when baking? Do you ever get a little inventive?

I made some cake the other day, and realized mid baking I didn't have any vegetable oil! I was slightly in a panic, but realized I had some strawberry applesauce in the fridge. I used that instead, and oh man, it was so yummy. I now have a special Chocolate dipped Strawberry cake recipe!

That's probably a pretty typical substitution, but this next one is a little weird.

I was making some brownies, and I was on the phone. I put in a FULL cup of oil without even thinking about it.

Well, I just moved so I didn't have any flour or bisquick or anything...

So I crushed up some peanut butter cap n' crunch and tossed it in the batter. It was so good!

I would love to hear your stories.

 

[evelynmcgregor]

I use the applesauce instead of oil substitution a lot. I use in cakes, brownies and quick breads. I have also used jared baby prunes on occasion in chocolate cake and brownies. You could not tell that I had used these things.

 

[Ellyn]

For vegans, crushed flaxseed or chia seed mixed with cold water makes a perfect egg substitute! I've heard that applesauce isn't bad, either, because apples have pectin which is a binding agent. Dairy milk can be substituted by a lot of things: coconut milk, rice milk, almond milk...

Plain yoghurt can substitute mayonnaise, unless you really like the taste of mayonnaise.

I recently found out that oatmeal and glutinous rice are pretty much interchangeable. I made oatmeal congee, and apple cinnamon sticky rice porridge, and they both tasted okay.

While not a substitute, I found out that baking powder is essentially baking soda with twice its amount of cream of tartar. Cornstarch can be added to prevent the two dry ingredients from reacting before you want them to do so. But anyway, that's why so many pancake recipes call for extra baking soda along with baking powder (probably, it makes sense to my mind): to balance out the "extra" cream of tartar powder.

Buttermilk can apparently be substituted for half a cup of dairy milk and half a cup of vinegar.

 

[monkeyboots]

SeeOfTrees,
I love the cereal sub. I have done the same with crushed saltines, graham crackers and vanilla wafers.
I also use Greek yogurt for butter or oil almost always. I use tofu and pureed white beans if I'm baking for vegans.
Baking is fun!

 

[aas1277]

I've been told that if you have kids with allergies you can use chia seeds instead of eggs. When you soak chia seeds they form a gel like substance similar to egg whites. I regularly add this to my oatmeal for the added health benefit. I've been dying to try it in my baking but haven't yet.