Baking without Eggs: a technique worth learning

Dear Readers, 

Here at home the leaves are being covered in their autumn robes of gold, orange, and red; the wind has a different whisper to it, and the days have a crisp new note. Winter is approaching, and this golden month of October already half gone! How is autumn gracing your home? 

I enjoy fall, when it’s a pleasure to stand near as the oven releases warmth tinged with the yummy smells of almond-chocolate chip cookies, with crisp outsides and tender chewiness beneath. Or muffins rising in their pans, pumpkin bread—with a twist—mounding high, and occasionally cheesy pizzas or bubbly casseroles alongside.  

Since I was a little girl, I’ve learned to bake and cook without eggs. True, it’s difficult and often frustrating as the results are never quite as perfect, especially at high altitude! Those of who live in the mountains or high plains can relate to the hard-as-rock cookies, or flat and soggy muffins, and cakes that stick to pans like their life depends on it! It seems like there’s little use to baking brownies, cakes, cookies, and breads that turn out poorly. But there’s hope and I’m sure many of you have discovered solutions which I would love to hear about. 

Remember that recipes can and should be tweaked and twiddled until they work for you. Cooking and baking is an Art. It should be pleasurable to create healthy, nourishing things to enjoy with those you love. Eggless baking is possible and often just as rewarding as the other kind. Especially considering that we can lick the batter bowl! ;-)  

Technique #1

Have you ever heard of Ener-G Egg Replacer? This seemingly useless white powder is actually a wonderful way to create foods that look and taste like they have eggs in them. We’ve found it at Kroger stores, such as Smith’s or Fry’s, but call around—it probably is other places, too. Priced between $4 and $5 for around 125 eggs (which is about 3 cents an egg) Egg Replacer goes a looooong ways. The directions are simple: merely combine 1 ½ tsp. Replacer with 2 Tbsp. warm water and you have the equivalent of one large egg ready to use!

 

Recipe #1

~Muffins or Quick Bread~

*Originally from an old Betty Crocker cookbook, since changed by me 

4 cups +6 tbsp. Flour combined with 1 cup oats, ground fine

1.5 c. minus 1 ½ tbsp. sugar

½ tsp. minus 1/8 tsp. baking soda

5 tsp. minus 1/8 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

½ c. oil or butter

½ c. maple syrup or honey

4 tsp. imitation vanilla (less if using real vanilla)

4 eggs (see directions for Egg Replacer above)

½ c. milk combined with ½ c. water 

1.       In a large bowl, whisk flour, oats, sugar, soda, baking powder and salt.

2.       Using a medium bowl, combine shortening, syrup, and vanilla. Add half of the milk-water at this time. Beat eggs thoroughly and add.

3.       Pour into flour mixture and mix just till combined. If necessary, add the rest of the milk-water to create a consistency to your liking. I’ve found it works best if it’s still lumpy, (as long as there aren’t streaks of ingredients) and still pretty thick.

4.       Grease either 24 muffin cups or 2-3 loaf pans, depending on size, and divide batter evenly amongst your chosen pans.

5.       Bake as soon as possible* at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, then 25 more or till toothpick or uncooked spaghetti noodle emerges clean. The baking time may also need tweaking, so play it by ear—and smell—till you get a good result.  

*Egg Replacer will become much less effective the longer it sits wet. So try to mix it just before it’s needed in the batter, and then bake ASAP.

 

Variations:

For Banana Bread or Muffins, add 4 ripe bananas to bowl in step 2. Adjust liquid accordingly and add cinnamon to dry ingredients. A streusel topping adds a nice touch. =)

For Pumpkin Bread or Muffins, add either 2 cups of pumpkin or 2 cooked yams (mashed with sugar or honey and a little milk) to the bowl in step 2. Again, adjust liquid accordingly, and add spices to dry ingredients. The yams really make it taste good and are a lot less expensive than pumpkin. Healthy, too! 

If any of you have ideas for eggless baking, please share in your comments. I don’t know how to do link-ups, so let’s do it a simple way. If you wrote a blog post or found a helpful website, please share it! Just comment with the link and I’ll list all of them in a couple of days. 

Let me know when you try these recipes, what you changed, and how you liked it! Happy Baking, friend, and remember to keep the Lord always before you. 

In His Love,

Petra