Egg-Free baking, I will beat you yet!

Missy had an appointment with a new allergist a few weeks ago. It wasn't a new allergist because we were disappointed with her original one. In fact, I thought he was quite fabulous. I'm just not a fan of driving from Central TX to North Dallas for appointments because we moved.

It's, how do you say.... inconvenient.

So boring story short, the new doctor told us Missy's still allergic to eggs. Blah.

Now it's been two years and innumerable disastrous recipes since we found out about her allergy, and I'm finally honing my (limited) skills in the kitchen with regards to egg-free baking.

(By the way, there is a huge market for a GOOD egg-free baking cookbook. Emphasis on GOOD.)

My best egg-substitute tip? Mixing 1 tbsp. cornstarch and 1 tbsp. water = 1 egg

None of the other funky concoctions which require odd measurements of water, oil, and something-else-I-can't-remember have worked. And since unflavored gelatin is not one of my pantry staples, I've spent countless minutes google-ing the mess out of "egg substitutions in baking." The cornstarch trick was the one that finally stuck (lame pun fully intended. Sadly.).

I hope someone benefits from my very scientific research.

The most challenging meal for avoiding eggs is breakfast. And dinner if you count the number of days in a month when I decide breakfast-for-dinner is the easiest option. Pancakes, waffles, french toast, quiche, casseroles...it's all out the window. Thankfully, one of my cursory google searches took me directly to a FABULOUS egg-free pancake recipe!

Egg-Free Pancakes

1 cup Plain Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 cup milk
1.5 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Sift flour and baking soda/powder and salt.

Add sugar and whisk together

Add Vanilla and Oil and half the milk. Whisk together.

Gradually add the rest of the milk until thick pouring consistency.

Heat griddle/skillet - needs to be reasonably hot. Use oil/cooking spray before each pancake - they do stick otherwise. Pour about 1/4 c. of the mixture onto the griddle (the pancakes work best if they are on the small side).

Credit for the recipe goes to Must Follow Recipes. I can SO relate.

This recipe could also be tweaked to make it dairy-free by substituting the milk for soy milk or whatever type of non-dairy milk you prefer (that's how the author of the blog where I found the recipe does it. But no dairy allergies here, so we make sure we drink up our daily recommended allowance of hormones! And sometimes we even add artificial chemicals chocolate syrup to it.)

It's also helpful if you really know your pan and how it heats. And at what temperature you should cook your pancakes. Otherwise they might end up blackened. Which doesn't really equate to authentic cajun breakfast cooking. It just means burnt.

But that isn't the recipe's fault- it's more about operator error, about which I have myriad knowledge.

Just ask my kids.