I didn’t get any response in the comfort food thread so I thought I’d start a new thread.
I have a grandson who is allergic to both dairy and egg. I’m not much of a baker but I’d like to figure out some tricks for cookie baking. For the last birthday party I used box cake mix for cupcakes. One batch I used the Bobs Red Mill egg substitute and oat milk and the other box I used cashew coconut yogurt for the egg. They both turned out decent but I thought I could taste the egg substitute. I just baked a spice cake mix using applesauce with a teaspoon of baking powder. It looks a but flat but I did use 9 inch rounds.
For thanksgiving we have pies covered as the pie maker will use Crisco in the crust. I want to make some molasses ginger cookies. It calls for one egg. I was thinking to try pumpkin puree but wonder if the cashew yogurt or egg substitute would work better.
We had the most success with using flax or chia, and water per the directions. Make sure the water is warm and really let it sit and get gummy. Egg Substitute just didn’t seem to be working. Pumpkin puree is a good idea for the drop cookies! Or try brownies, they tend to be more forgiving.
I think it has more to do with what you are trying to make. A cake is going to have trouble rising enough without eggs; a cookie or shortbread or something like a 7-layer bar is not going to mind quite as much. I’ve had a lot of success with recipes from a site called The Loopy Whisk. Good luck! (And thank you for trying – you’d be surprised how many grandparents won’t)
Thanks, I’ll explore that website. I’ve seen reference to using the flaxseed but my husband seems to think flax tastes fishy. From what I’ve read it depends also what role the egg plays in the recipe. Substituting nut milk seems to work well for milk in recipes and I’m going to see how the vegan butter works in the cookies.
I want my grandson to be as safe as possible eating at my house. He is anaphylactic to dairy and extremely allergic to egg. The last 6 months we have done all our family gatherings as allergen free. My DIL can relax when she doesn’t have to be hyper vigilant. I will say my 94 year old relative doesn’t understand why we are altering the tried and true menu for one child.
@abasket Minimalist Baker is a site I’ve used for other recipes. I hadn’t thought of her site. Many of her desserts that are dairy free/ egg free are also gluten free. My daughter is allergic to almonds so I have to be cautious with GF recipes.
Another egg substitute vegan D uses is the liquid from a can of chickpeas—called aquafaba in the vegan cooking world, apparently. Chickpeas are rich in protein so the liquid can replace eggs in some recipes.
One may have to google “vegan recipes using aquafaba” to find applications. I think D has made cakes with ‘chickpea juice’, as I jokingly call it.
The negative to using it is that once the baking is done, now you gotta find something to do with the chickpeas in the fridge!!
A lot of times you can just omit the egg and not replace it with anything. I have done that. Just depends on the recipe. Are these ginger cookies fluffy or are they more like a ginger snap?
My husband also has a dairy/egg allergy. Like @greenbutton I also use chia seeds. I use almond milk for everything from drinking to cooking, and use Country Crock Plant Butter, usually in Avocado Oil. They also make it Olive Oil.
Unless it’s very butter-forward cookie like shortbreads vegan butter works just fine.
D1 is vegetarian and typically bakes vegan recipes for cookies, brownies, waffles, pancakes, etc.
She uses only vegan butter and uses chia seeds (soaked in warm water until gummy) to replace eggs. Try chia if flax is giving you off flavors. Chia substituted recipes will have less “lift” so may turn out denser than the original recipes.
Her vegan brownies, from the cookbook below, are excellent , though you have to be very vigilant when baking them because if you overtake by even 1-2 minutes, the brownie is very dry and doesn’t keep at all. If in doubt underbaking is better.
Her recipe involves almond butter so it may not work if anyone has nut allergies.
If you want cake recipes–look for olive oil cakes. Olive oil subs for the butter and keep the cake very moist. There are many olive oil cake recipes that don’t use eggs. (In fact a hack professional bakers use is to sub 1/2 vegetable oil for butter when baking cakes to make the cake stay moister for longer.)
You can substitute unsweetened applesauce for eggs in baked goods. Use 1/4 cup applesauce per egg.
I know you are asking about cookies, but I wanted to put a plug in for my family’s favorite chocolate cake. My grandmother called it wacky cake because it does not contain eggs or dairy and can be mixed and baked in the same pan (providing you want to serve from the pan, otherwise, mix separately and grease/line pan). I’ve also seen it called chocolate depression cake as it was popular in the 1930s. This recipe is similar to the one I use.
Thanks for all the website recommendations. I’ve found some good ideas. I’m fine with chia seeds so that is worth trying. @greenbutton I found a pumpkin snickerdoodle recipe on Nora cooks that I’m going to try since I now have an open can of pumpkin.
I made one cupcake with the spice cake made with applesauce and the flavor is good. The rise isn’t the highest but that’s not a big deal.
I haven’t baked the cookies yet. I think in the recipe I used the pumpkin should work.
My son has been vegetarian and then vegan shortly after since the day we left him at college six years ago. So, I’ve gotten to try a lot of new recipes for baking and otherwise. I do like that Nora cooks website and have had some luck with that. Smitten Kitchen also has vegan cinnamon rolls which were pretty good when we tried them last Christmas. Two family favorite recipes that I’ve been making for over 25 years are pumpkin bread and gingersnap (molasses) cookies and the only thing I need to change in both of those are using egg substitute. I really can’t taste it and the strong spices in both recipes probably help with that.
During the depression and WWII they commonly made cakes and icing without eggs butter and milk as they were rationed.
My family has a raisin cake and i discovered there is also a chocolate cake that is made in the same nature. The raisin cake is my favorite it is moist and I’m sure the chocolate cake is good as well.
I’ve made and enjoyed the chocolate cake mentioned above, but if you ever want a moist and more rich/traditional chocolate cake I highly recommend this one. A (not vegan) friend gave me the recipe and it is fabulous, though I recall there was too much frosting for me. https://www.noracooks.com/vegan-chocolate-cake/
Today I made vegan buckeyes — those are simple and easily dairy free, but not a good choice for nut allergies. But peanut butter, confectioner’s sugar, earth balance spread, and df dark ghiradelli chips to coat them. That’s it! Made them for my df DiL.