Have you ever been baking your favorite recipe but realized you didn't have a key ingredient, like buttermilk or butter? You don't have to make a quick trip to the store. Instead, you can substitute it! Here are four, easy ingredient substitutions for recipes:
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Buttermilk - Buttermilk is sometimes needed for pancakes, breads, salad dressings and desserts. No buttermilk in the refrigerator? Use whole milk and a little lemon juice or white wine vinegar in place of buttermilk. To make a buttermilk substitute, use a ratio of 1 cup whole milk and 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white wine vinegar for every cup of buttermilk in the recipe. Let sit for a few minutes and then use in the recipe as you would buttermilk.
Butter - Did you run out of butter? An easy substitute is coconut oil. It works just like butter. Coconut oil is vegan-friendly, and you can melt it or sauté with it, too.
Powdered sugar - If powdered sugar is missing from your pantry, you can make it at home. To create a simple powdered sugar substitute, put 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon corn starch in a food processor and whir the two ingredients together.
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Eggs - To make a recipe vegan-friendly, substitute eggs with flax or chia seeds. To make an egg substitute, in a small coffee grinder or spice grinder whir flax or chia seeds until you have flax or chia seed meal. Then, for each egg you're replacing in a recipe, combine 1 tablespoon ground flax seed meal or 1 tablespoon ground chia seed meal and 3-4 tablespoons of warm water. By thickening and leavening, this easily substitutes eggs.
For more cooking tips and tricks, check out host Aida Mollenkamp's book, "Keys to the Kitchen."
More on Shine:
5 ingredients to make vegan food taste decadent
8 ways to use up buttermilk
10 magic ingredients that will transform your cooking
