“No butter, milk, or eggs in your dessert? And what planet are you from?” I was asked. At that point in the conversation I decided to explain vegan dietary choices.
A vegan is a vegetarian who avoids eating or using all animal products, including meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or any foods containing by-products of these ingredients. To quote Isa Chandra Moskowitz, author of Vegan with a Vengeance and co-author of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, “We don’t need dairy and eggs to have sweet, satisfying and decadent vegan treats”.
We begin with the ingredients.
Milk Substitutes:
- In baking you can easily substitute rice, soy, grain, and nut based milks for cow’s milk. They can be used with confidence in cakes, muffins, loaves, pudding, and pastries.
Butter Alternatives:
- Liquid fat can be replaced by olive oil.
- Lard, processed vegetable oils and shortening can also be replaced by other organic oils, such as safflower and sunflower. They are best used in brownies, cookies, quick breads and coffee cakes.
- The best substitute for a solid fat (used in pastry dough) is a non-hydrogenated expeller pressed oil, solid in measured cubes and spreads. Prepare piecrusts, frostings, and crumb toppings with no cholesterol. Sold in the refrigerated section.
Egg Alternatives:
My favourite egg replacer has to be ground flax seeds. Grind 1 tablespoon seeds, add 3 tablespoons water and allow to sit for 2 minutes. Stir. The mixture turns gelatinous and the nutritional benefits of flax are tremendous. High in Omega 3 fatty acids, fiber, and, minerals.
Other egg substitutes: For 1 egg
- ¼ cup pureed apple sauce, bananas, dates, or prunes
- ¼ cup tofu, firm or silken pureed
- 2 tablespoons nut butter
These ingredients mimic the binding properties of eggs and can be used when preparing cookies, cakes, loaves, and muffins.
The most difficult substitution is replacing custard textures in pie fillings that eggs provide. To do this, you need to use agar agar, a sea vegetable. Sold in flakes, bars, and powder, it needs to be added to a wet mixture, heated and then gelled.
Other Thickening Agents:
- Kudzu is a starch from a tuber root, used to thicken fillings and sauces.
- Arrowroot and tapioca flour can be used in place of GMO cornstarch – 1 tablespoon is diluted in 2 tablespoons of liquid to thicken 1 cup.
- Fruit purees contain pectin – a dietary fiber that is a natural thickener
Grapes, blueberries, bananas, peaches, raspberries, apples. They add moisture and sweetness to your dessert. Use as pie fillings or fruit toppings.
Sweeteners:
- Ordinary sugar, made from sugar cane is processed using bone char, a charcoal made from animal bones. Buy organic unbleached sugar, turbinado, evaporated cane juice or beet sugar.
- Honey – honey is food for bees. They make it for themselves not to feed us.
- In place of honey, use rice syrup, agave nectar, stevia, or maple syrup.
