This is the time of year when I start thinking seriously about desserts. I mean, what is Thanksgiving without Pumpkin Pie or Christmas without cookies ?
Those of us who eat a whole food plant-based diet making desserts is really a challenge. There is a lot of substituting that has to be done. For most things it is relatively easy to substitute For example you can substitute:
- Milk = Nut milk
- Gluten based flours = gluten-free baking mix or brown rice flour
- Sugar = honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar or stevia
- Butter = Coconut Oil
The real challenge is substituting eggs. Especially when baking. Baking is a little fussy and requires more planning. Remember that eggs serve three main purposes:
- to act as a leavening agent so that food is light and fluffy
- to act as a binder for the dry ingredients so the food holds together
- add moisture to keep food from being dry in your mouth
It can get a little complex but there are 2 simple things to remember going in:
- Replacing more than 2 eggs in any recipe starts to get very dicey (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t)
- You must (one of the very few musts in cooking) figure out what the eggs are used for in the original recipe: leavening, binding or moisturizing
Here is a table that distills all my current information about foods where I substitute something for egg. I have tried all of these and know they work and work well.
| Substitute | Equivalent to 1 egg | |
| Brownies & Cake where eggs work as both a binding and a leavening agent | ||
| Applesauce | 1/3 cup or 1/4 cup + 1 tsp Baking powder | |
| Bananas | 1/4 cup (ripe and mashed) | |
| Coconut Oil | 1/4 cup | |
| Ground Flax Seeds | 1 Tbl flax+3 Tbl water | |
| Pureed Pumpkin | 3 Tbl | |
| Potato Starch | 2 heaping Tbl | |
| Tapioca | 1 Tbl tapioca +3 Tbl water | |
| White Vinegar & Baking Powder | 1 Tbl vinegar+1 tsp baking powder | |
| Fizzy water/Soda Water | 4 oz (1/4 cup) | |
| Casseroles where Eggs act as a binding agent |
||
| Mashed Potatoes | 1/4 cup | |
| Bread Crumbs | 1/4 cup | |
| Cooked Oatmeal | 1/4 cup (cooked) | |
| Cookies where Eggs act as a binding agent and a moisturizer | ||
| Applesauce | 1/3 cup or 1/4 cup + 1 tsp Baking powder | |
| Bananas | 1/4 cup (ripe and mashed) | |
| Coconut Oil | 1/4 cup | |
| Ground Flax Seeds | 1 Tbl flax+3 Tbl water | |
| Pureed Pumpkin | 3 Tbl | |
| Muffins where eggs act as a binding agent and a moisturizer | ||
| Applesauce | 1/3 cup or 1/4 cup + 1 tsp Baking powder | |
| Bananas | 1/4 cup (ripe and mashed) | |
| Coconut Oil | 1/4 cup | |
| Ground Flax Seeds | 1 Tbl flax+3 Tbl water | |
| Pureed Pumpkin | 3 Tbl | |
| Pies & Puddings where eggs act mostly as a binding agent | ||
| Cornstarch | 2 Tbl cornstarch+ 2 Tbl water | |
| Flour, oil and liquid | 1 Tbl flour+1/2 tsp oil+1/2 tsp baking powder + 2 Tbs liquid (water/coconut milk/nut milk) | |
There are a few other things people recommend that I have not used and here they are:
- Mayo – 3 Tbs
- Nut Butter – 3 Tbs
- Tofu – 1/4 cup blended to smooth and creamy
- Soy yogurt = 1/4 cup
- Yeast – 1 tsp + 1/4 c warm water
Finally, you can always use a commercial product like Ener-G. It contains Potato Starch, Tapioca Flour, Leavening (Calcium Lactate, Calcium Carbonate, Citric Acid), Sodium Carboxymethylcellulose, Methylcellulose. Probably all ok stuff, but I am always leery of foods that used things that I don’t recognize or can’t pronounce. Something like this is not exactly a whole food plant-based item. But the truth is that my big complaint is that they leave a funny aftertaste.
Takes some practice to get this down, but I promise you will get it with time and practice.
