Substitute baking

We’ve all been there.  You start to make a recipe and find you’re out of something.  Great.  Now you have to put everything on hold and run to the store.

I can’t take credit for this pic, but I LOVE the saying!

Don’t have time to do that? Forget it. You’ll just buy something and change the container so no one knows it’s store-bought.   (I have totally done this!!)

First off, may want to make a grocery list the next time you go to make a recipe.  There’s an app for that 🙂

Now, if you STILL run out of something, don’t panic.  I have a list of substitutions to use in emergencies!  This list is NOT all inclusive, but covers the most common ingredients.

      Instead of:                                                                 Use:
1 cup brown sugar                        1 cup white sugar with 1/4 cup molasses, and
decrease the liquid in the recipe by 1/4 cup
1 cup buttermilk                            1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice with enough
milk to make 1 cup
1 cup corn syrup                            1 1/4 cups white sugar plus 1/3 cup water
1 cup half-and-half                        7/8 cup milk plus 1 tablespoon butter
1 cup cake flour                              1 cup all-purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons
1 cup molasses                                1 cup dark corn syrup
1 cup self-rising flour                    7/8 cup all-purpose flour + 1 1/2 teaspoons baking
powder + 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil                         1 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vinegar                        1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup yogurt                                    1 cup sour cream or 1 cup buttermilk

A little talk about fats in recipes (namely, butter and margarine):
*You CAN replace shortening in a recipe with butter.  However, the texture will be a little different.  Shortening produces more of a flaky consistency than butter.  Also, butter melts at a different temp so cookies may spread a bit more with butter than with shortening.
*Butter needs to be unsalted in recipes.  Otherwise, the recipe may turn out a little too salty.  If you use salted butter, decrease the salt from the recipe by about 1/4 teaspoon for every 1/2 cup butter you use.

I hope these work for you!  And remember, always try to plan ahead….or have a backup plan in case something goes terribly wrong. If you DO pass off store-bought as homemade don’t worry, I won’t tell 😉

Have any baking questions you want answered?  Comment and ask!