We ran some tests to find out if you can save your recipe or if you’re doomed to another trip to the grocery store.
Eggs
The proteins in egg yolks are strong emulsifiers, which means they’re good at keeping water and fat together. If a food needs structure or leavening, chances are you’ll find an egg in it. Yet as jam makers can tell you, proportions are crucial—you need to add enough pectin to absorb excess water, but not so much that it stiffens up your food to inedibility. Keep it to a ratio of one-to-one by weight. Good natural sources of pectin you may already have handy include applesauce and mashed bananas—the browner the better. Pectin is a naturally occurring starch, but you can also find it as a powder or liquid at the grocery store. This compound absorbs water before other starches (like flour) can get to it and provides a gel-like texture. In fact, pectin is what makes homemade jams and jellies wiggly. Fortunately, most vegetable oils offer the same effect when used in the proper ratio. The most popular one is coconut oil. Due to its level of saturated fat, this ingredient is solid at room temperature, which makes it easier to manage and weigh out. As a rule of thumb use three-quarters of a unit of vegetable oil per every unit of butter. Any more than that, and the steam will struggle to escape, resulting in dense baked goods. We chose replacements based on what’s easiest and most commonly available at home—mashed banana instead of eggs, soy milk for regular milk, and coconut oil for butter. To know exactly what each replacement did to the final flavor, texture, and consistency of the recipe, we baked five sets of mini-muffins: three batches with one swapped-out ingredient, one fully vegan set, and a control batch with the original recipe. We cooked them all in the same oven, for the same amount of time, and at the same temperature. The original recipe renders results reminiscent of quickbread—slightly less tender than your typical muffin, with a tighter crumb and crisper exterior. Flavorwise, the ginger, cinnamon, and other spices are present but not overpowering, with both the molasses and the brown sugar coming through for sweetness.
The results
The lessons learned
When it comes to texture, these were far moister than the control muffins. In fact, one of these came out so soft we weren’t sure it was fully cooked, but it was fine once it cooled down. As a result, these were more of a spice brownie than muffins. They were dense, but not so much as to be unpleasant. The coconut oil didn’t leave behind any sort of taste we could detect, either, so if you keep a close eye on your ratios, you should be able to swap them out without anyone being the wiser. The fully vegan mix came out looking like pancake batter due to the moisture, but after baking, the muffins had the consistency they were supposed to have. Still, be careful with baked goods that require keeping things drier—not all recipes are so forgiving.
