Let me start out by saying I’m not vegan. I do have experience with vegan baking, though, because I somehow found myself in a baking war last semester. My classmate and I have been facing off for months, bringing baked goods into our syntax classes. It’s not really a war — everyone wins in this situation because we get to eat good food — but that’s what we call it.
Last semester, in English syntax, there were two vegan guys in the class, and I didn’t want to leave them out of the war. This semester, in second-language syntax, there’s just one, but I like the challenge of taking my favorite recipes and making them vegan.
This experience, on top of having some friends that are dairy- or gluten-free, has led me into the world of baking substitutions. Come with me and I’ll show you what I’ve found. At the end of the path there’s a recipe for some delicious vegan pretzel crunch, which is adapted from a Better Homes and Gardens recipe.
Ingredient: butter
Vegan substitution: Country Crock plant butter with olive oil
I’ve tested a lot of vegan butters, and this is my favorite. The Country Crock brand has options made with almond oil and avocado oil, but I go for the olive oil version. To me, it’s the one that tastes the most like traditional butter.
I would use it (and have used it) in shortbread, which is normally a very butter-heavy baked good. Yes, in something that butter-forward, you can taste the difference, but in pretty much every other dish I’ve used this substitute in, you can’t tell that it’s not dairy butter.
Ingredient: milk
Vegan substitution: plant-based milks
These days, it’s not hard to walk into Kroger and find oodles of plant-based milks. If you’re vegan or dairy-free, you likely already have your favorite. Feel free to use that in a baking recipe but allow me to suggest oat milk if you’re looking for an option that’s less likely to skew the flavor of whatever you’re making.
Ingredient: Egg
Vegan substitution: flax egg or nut butter
What you substitute for an egg depends on what types of baked goods you’re making. In general, my preference is to use a flax egg, which you make by mixing ground flaxseed with water.
I’ve had good results with a flax egg in recipes for brownies and coffee cake, though with a cake you’re going to see little bits of flax seed in the final product. If you want to avoid that for aesthetic reasons, or if you want to add a bit of nutty flavor, you can substitute one egg with one tablespoon of nut butter. I like using peanut butter or, though technically a seed, sunflower butter, especially in cookies and breads.
Ripe bananas are another egg substitute option, but I tend to eschew them unless I specifically want the product to taste like bananas. The flavor works well in chocolate chip cookies.
Ingredient: powdered milk
Vegan substitution: powdered coconut milk
I had never used powdered milk in a recipe before making pretzel crunch, but those addictive pretzels are now one of my go-tos for a quick party snack.
I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find a vegan powdered milk, but as I was wandering the aisles of Bloomingfoods one day, I came across a bag of coconut milk powder. I grabbed it and used it to make a vegan version of my beloved pretzel crunch.
I couldn’t taste any coconut in the final product, though my kitchen smelled quite tropical while I was making it. Using more than three tablespoons probably will make the flavor come through, so do with that information what you will.
Ingredient: sour cream
Vegan substitution: unsweetened plant-based Greek yogurt
Sour cream makes for lovely, moist coffee cake, and I’ve found that traditional Greek yogurt is a great substitute for sour cream. Furthermore, plant-based Greek yogurt has worked well for me in vegan baking.
I like to use Silk Vanilla Greek Style Coconutmilk Yogurt Alternative. Similar to the powdered coconut milk, I couldn’t taste the coconut, but if you’re concerned about that, the soymilk yogurt alternative is likely a good option.
Many yogurts contain more than a bit of added sugar, so unless you can find an unsweetened version, you might want to reduce the quantity of granulated/brown sugar that you put in your recipe. The same applies with dairy-free milks.
Recipe: vegan pretzel crunch
3 cups of waffle-shaped pretzels
6 tablespoons plant-based butter, melted
3 tablespoons powdered coconut milk
5 tablespoons brown sugar
Pre-heat the oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a baking sheet.
Toss the pretzels, plant-based butter, powdered coconut milk and brown sugar together in a bowl until the pretzels are covered. Spread out on the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, stir the pretzels and, if needed, bake another five to seven minutes. They should be a toasty golden brown. Remove from the oven, let cool and enjoy!
