egg substitutes

Eggs are irreplaceable. Let's just start with that. There is no such thing as a perfect egg replacer. Eggs have the unique qualities of being able to both leaven (raise) and congeal (bind). And nothing I've found can truly take the place of an egg in a recipe.

But that doesn't mean that you can't bake without eggs. You absolutely can! Do you think mankind has always had a coup full of chickens around to use at their disposal? Of course not.

Unfortunately, eggs have been available long enough in our history that most people have no idea how to bake without them. And no cookbook would ever have a recipe for muffins that didn't have at least one egg listed as one of the main ingredients.

For recipes that call for eggs, I like to use Ener-G Egg Replacer (but whatever you do, don't try it with a box mix. You will end up with goop. I promise. And I have no idea why). But it works great with most from-scratch cookie, quick bread, muffin, etc. recipes.

If you don't have egg replacer on hand, you can increase the amount of baking powder/soda a recipe calls for (usually by about double), to make up for the lack of leavening from the egg (just remember that if you are using only baking soda, you also need a small amount of acid, such as vinegar or lemon juice, to get the powder to activate). Then just add a little more water or dairy free milk to make up for the loss of binding moisture. The problem with doing this is that sometimes gives the baked good that soda-y flavor, that isn't necessarily the most desirable thing at all times... just don't overdo it and you should be okay, and pick up some egg replacer for next time ;)

I've come across quite a few recipes that replace eggs with tofu. Personally, I don't like the taste of tofu (I know they say it's tasteless, but maybe I just have really good tastebuds?). I have tried some of these recipes, and honestly, the ones I've tried so far turn out okay, and the result is like "hey, this is actually edible". But when I got to the trouble of making something, I would really prefer if the reaction is more like, "hey, I want more of that" because it's so delicious, not just that it can *surprisingly* be tolerated.

Some people use 1/2 a banana, mashed, in place of the eggs in a recipe. That's just fine if you don't mind your creation tasting like banana ;) which is why I've never actually had occasion to try that one out...