The Secret to Eggless Baking

I have an announcement...I'm going to have another baby!  Yea!

I have been sick and tired since the end of January and I am starting to feel better, so hopefully you will get more posts this month.  :o)

I discovered in Febuary that I couldn't eat eggs.  Eggs are one of my favorite foods, and I miss them.
 However, eggs and anything that has them in it make me seriously ill for hours.  It's the weirdest thing.  Once I figured that out it helped, before that I felt as badly as I did going through chemo in my early twenties.  It was crazy!  On the other hand, though I have been sicker this pregnancy than I have ever been with the others, I am not having crazy mood swings.  I guess it's a fair trade!

I have been craving sweets, though I have to eat small amounts.  I have been working on baking with out eggs for the past 6 weeks and have some great recipes to share.

Before I start my new series of recipes, I want to share how I have been adapting recipes.  So if you or someone you love cannot have eggs, you can adapt your favorite recipes too.

For cookies substituting ground flax seed has been wonderful. 

You want to freshly grind the flax seeds yourself, right before you use it with a coffee or herb grinder.  I use golden flax seeds because they are light in flavor and don't affect the flavor of the recipe noticeably.  The darker seeds have a stronger nutty flavor and you will notice the flavor in your recipe.  I like the nutty flavor, but you will have to experiment to see what you prefer in which recipe.  My goal thus far has been to make recipes that are just as amazing as there original.

When you mix the freshly ground flax seeds with the hot water it sets up in a few minutes into a gooey, mucus-y looking mess.  The consistency is similar to a fresh egg white.

For cakes a mixture of apple sauce and fresh flax seed goo has worked the best.  My sweet friend Anyonita (from Anyonita Nibbles, an awesome food blog) told me that she had success with applesauce.  It made sense to me because I have used applesauce to replace oil and reduce fat in cakes and eggs are a fatty moisture addition too.  I had found that if I just used flax seed, the cake was too heavy.  However, if I only use applesauce, it seemed a little dry.  So I combined the ideas and worked out proportions.

So, now you can experiment with your own recipes!

1/4-1/3 c. of applesauce

or 

1 T. of freshly ground and 3 T. of hot water

equal an egg

You just have to find the proportions that work for you!

I will be posting an amazing Vegan Carrot Cake tomorrow, so come on back!
Linked on Wow us Wednesday and these other parties I love!

Linked on Wow us Wednesday and these other parties I love!