Egg Free Archive

Replacing Eggs in Your Vegan Cooking and Baking

Posted July 26, 2012 By Sandy

One of the most common questions I hear from new Vegans is how do I replace eggs in my cooking and baking?  Thankfully, there are a lot of different options out there, but Lindsay just posted an article on the subject:

How to Replace Eggs

(And What to Use as a Binder!)

If you’re replacing eggs in baked goods, these are my go-to options:

1/4 cup applesauce: add in with wet ingredients but avoid using more than 1 cup total. It works best in breads, muffins, and cakes

1/2 mashed banana: cream banana with sugar to add, although very ripe bananas will increase the sweetness and leave a little flavor. It works best in fat-free cookies, breads, muffins, and pancakes.

2 1/2 tbsp ground flax seeds mixed in 3 tbsp water: can be added as original egg in recipe but can add an earthy or nutty taste. Works great in chocolate recipes, granola bars and oatmeal cookies

Canned pumpkin works similarly to applesauce.

There is also vegan egg replacer available at Whole Foods and many health stores. You add water to the mixture and add it straight to your batters.

If you’re replacing eggs in a recipe that needs a binder (like in veggie burgers), try these options:

Oats: Add some oats to your batter until it thickens enough to form a patty

Potatoes: Smash potatoes and add to whatever you’re making, this works great in veggie burgers or loaf recipes, I like to use sweet potatoes this way as well. Don’t create a mash, leave them just a little chunky

Breadcrumbs: You can make your own by putting some bread into the oven and smashing it into pieces, or you can use store bought. This holds things like burgers and lentil loaves together

Flour: You can add whole wheat flour to many wet recipes to get them to thicken up and work better for shaping/forming. Be sure not to add too much or you’ll make your recipe very dense!

READ FULL POST

Some great tips!  We often use Egg Replacer in our baked goods — although I nearly double the recommended amount of replacer they suggest.

Are there other egg substitutes you have used with success that is not on this list from Lindsay?

If you are interested in trying Egg Replacer, click one of the link below:

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Baking Without Dairy or Eggs

Posted June 19, 2012 By Sandy

Cooking or Baking Without Dairy or Eggs can be a real challenge — if you don’t know the special tips offered here by Allyson Kramer, author of the  Manifest Vegan blog.

I found these tips and the wonderful recipe at the bottom of the post on the Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom blog.  Both authors and blogs are excellent resources for tips and recipes for Gluten Free Vegans!

How is it possible to bake or cook without dairy or eggs?

This is often the first concern of people who are thinking about eliminating dairy and eggs from their diets–especially those of us who are avid bakers. And even more so for those of us who are avid gluten-free bakers! Most baked goods recipes contain the obligatory stick of butter and several eggs. With gluten-free recipes in particular, you’ll often find a large amount of eggs called for because eggs balance out the lack of gluten —acting as a binder as well as making many baked goods rise. But eggs aren’t the only solution. In fact, it’s not the actual eggs, butter or milk that’s necessary to achieve great results in baking, but the qualities and chemistry of those ingredients that make a recipe work. Whether it be rising power, binding capabilities, adding fat to a recipe, or simply just thinning a batter, you can find these properties in many plant based foods—and they yield just as good results as their animal based counterparts. …

Dairy-Free, Egg-Free and Corn-Free Vanilla Pudding

Ingredients

  • 3 Tbs. Corn Free, Vegan Margarine, or other vegan margarine if corn is not an issue
  • 2/3 cup Gram/Chickpea Flour
  • 1/2 cup Tapioca Starch
  • Dash Sea Salt
  • 1 1/2 cups Almond Milk
  • 2/3 cup Granulated Sugar
  • 3 tsp. corn free Vanilla Extract
  • 1 Vanilla Bean, split and scraped (discard pod, or reserve for other use)
  • Whipped Coconut Cream for topping

Directions

  1. Before you get started, be sure to have a few small bowls or dishes ready to pour the pudding into straight from the stovetop.
  2. In 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, melt the margarine until completely liquefied. Add in gram flour and stir until it clumps together, gently turn and break the mixture apart using a wooden spoon. Stir in the tapioca starch and then use a whisk to blend into crumbles. Let cook, stirring often, for about 2 minutes over medium heat, or until the flours are lightly toasted. Add in the sugar and whisk together until well combined.
  3. Gradually whisk in almond milk, about 1/4 cup at a time, stirring constantly until smooth, ensuring no lumps remain. This may take quite a bit of elbow grease, but it’s worth it to achieve a smooth pudding. Add in the remaining almond milk, vanilla extract, and scraped vanilla bean, whisking vigorously until all is combined. Continue to cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until quite thick, about 3 minutes.
  4. Pour into dishes and let cool at room temp for about 30 minutes before transferring to the refrigerator to cool completely.
  5. Let chill for at least 4 hours before serving, best if chilled overnight. Garnish with whipped coconut cream.

If you are interested in more of Allyson Kramer recipes, check out her cookbook below:

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Vegan Gluten Free Substitutes

Posted May 21, 2012 By Sandy

I love Jules Shepard!  She makes wonderful flour mixes, has a great blog, and frequently shares fantastic tips with her fans (like me!).

Jules recently posted a couple blogs on Vegan Gluten Free Substitutes that I would like to share here:

Egg Free Vegan Baking

Tips:

  • One trick to transforming many recipes to egg-free is to choose the right pan. Many quick breads, muffins and cakes will not have the same structural integrity without real eggs, so cheat a little bit and give your recipe more support by using smaller pans or muffin tins.
  • In any given recipe calling for more than two eggs, reconsider if you really must try it egg free.
  • In recipes calling for 3 eggs or more, try not to use more than two recipes of the same substitute (e.g. replace 3 eggs in a recipe by using two recipes of egg substitute #1 plus one recipe of egg substitute # 6 – see below).
  • Keep the fat in your recipes to help stand in for the lack of eggs, especially in recipes calling for more than 2 eggs. Thus, in a recipe calling for 3 eggs and milk, use egg substitutes and milk like coconut or almond which have more fat and body than a milk like skim dairy or rice milk.

READ ALL HER EGG FREE TIPS AND RECIPES

Jules wrote another post on Gluten and Dairy Free Baking:

Gluten AND Dairy-Free Baking

A lot of us gluten-free bakers are also faced with the challenge of baking dairy-free. Lactose is the biggest culprit (did you know that 60% of the adult population is lactose intolerant? Did you know that number is much higher for the celiacs amongst us?!) Want to know more about dairy and why it might be bothering you? Read my post all about it! If you’re looking to bake dairy and lactose-free, I have a few recommendations for you.

READ FULL POST ON GLUTEN AND DAIRY FREE BAKING

Jules authors several cookbooks.  Check them out here:

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Vegan Burgers

Posted March 31, 2012 By Sandy

While we are on the subject of meatless dishes today, I have found another article on Vegan/Vegetarian Burgers.  If you have not tried a Vegan Burger, now is the time!!

She listed five different recipe links on the page, but I have included only four in this post.  The first link could not be made vegan (in my opinion).  The other four can be made without the cheese and egg (just omit) or use one of the substitutions listed below:

1 egg in savory foods, for binding, replace with ….

  • 1 tablespoon egg replacer powder with 2 tablespoons of warm water
  • ¼ cup blended silken tofu
  • 2 ½ tablespoons flaxseed meal with 3 tablespoons of warm water
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste or other vegetable puree (mashed avocados or potatoes )
  • 2 tablespoons unsweetened nut/seed butter
  • 2 tablespoons Gluten Free flour or Gluten Free bread crumbs
  • 2 tablespoons moisten oats
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch and 3 teaspoons water

A Vegetarian Burger Bash

Vegan Burger

Photo by Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

Puréed beans make a great binder for grain and vegetable burgers, and an egg added to the mixture will help to hold it together. (If you want to keep them vegan you can, though you have to be careful when you flip the burgers over because they tend to fall apart.) I found that all of these burgers somehow tasted better a day after they were assembled ― the flavors had gelled, the burgers held together better, and a burger that seemed a bit dry to me right after cooking did not seem so dry the next day when reheated. I can’t tell you why.

Curried Lentil, Rice and Carrot Burgers: Indian spices liven up these burgers. The turmeric offers bonus antioxidant health benefits, but even without it, they’re in abundance in this recipe, with all the carrots and ginger.

Quinoa and Greens Burger: Rainbow quinoa is a great choice for this recipe — because it’s pretty, and because the red, black and golden quinoa grains all have slightly different textures.

Quinoa and Vegetable Burgers With Asian Flavors: This vibrant burger is made with both cooked and uncooked vegetables.

Mushroom and Grain Cheeseburgers: Barley is a traditional hearty partner for mushrooms, but brown rice is just as tasty in this burger.

READ FULL POST

If you missed my last post, here is my Squidoo Lens on Meatless Recipes

Do you have a Vegan Burger Recipe you would like to share?  Post it here or email to GFDFSandy (at) gmail.com

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Replace Eggs …. in Your Vegan Recipes

Posted March 17, 2012 By Sandy

Replacing EggsMy favorite Vegan blogger, Lindsay S. Nixon, with the Happy Herbivore, wrote this post on Replacing Eggs in Vegan Recipes.

She lists just a few options.  Personally, I use egg replacer in most of my baking.  I have also used vinegar in my bread recipe with much success.  She has some great ideas ….

How to Replace Eggs in Plant-based (Vegan) Baking

Below are a few ways to replace 1 egg in baking.

  • 1/4 cup applesauce: add in with wet ingredients but avoid using more than 1 cup total. It works best in breads, muffins, and cakes
  • 1/2 mashed banana: cream banana with sugar to add, although very ripe bananas will increase the sweetness and leave a little flavor. It works best in fat-free cookies, breads, muffins, and pancakes.
  • 2 1/2 tbsp ground flax seeds mixed in 3 tbsp water: can be added as original egg in recipe but can add an earthy or nutty taste. Works great in chocolate recipes, granola bars and oatmeal cookies

READ FULL POST

If you are interested in trying Egg Replacer, here is my favorite:

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