Ran out of flour

[DeniseNJ]

I was out of flour (and eggs) so I made an eggless cookie recipe with ground up matzo in a food processor.  Had a nice nutty flavor. 

Anyone else with good recipes from when you're out of one thing or another?  Any cool bad add substitutions you've made?

[OtherJen]

I wanted broccoli rice casserole. The recipe called for (among other things) broccoli (obviously), cream, and cream cheese. I had cauliflower, Greek yogurt, and mayonnaise. The resulting casserole was actually really good!

[GuitarStv]

There's an old toilet paper recipe I learned when camping as a boy.


Take several large leaves . . . now you have toilet paper!

:P

[TomTX]

There's an old toilet paper recipe I learned when camping as a boy.


Take several large leaves . . . now you have toilet paper!

:P

Just be reasonably sure of your plant identification skills. Something like stinging nettle or (even worse) poison ivy will make you regret your life choices.

[BikeFanatic]

We ground old fashion oats to make flour, now eating oatmeal cookies for breakfast!

[Missy B]

I swapped out butter for avocado in oatmeal cookies and psyllium husk for egg. I don't see psylium husk touted as egg replacer much but it actually works really well as a binder. But your cookies won't spread as well.

[DeniseNJ]

I swapped out butter for avocado in oatmeal cookies and psyllium husk for egg. I don't see psylium husk touted as egg replacer much but it actually works really well as a binder. But your cookies won't spread as well.

Avocado instead of butter?  Brilliant.

[parkerk]

Not a substitution as such but you can make really, really basic cookies with mashed banana and rolled oats.  That's it.  Add in whatever else you like (I like a bit of cinnamon and a handful of chocolate chips and chopped pecans) but the basic recipe is just the two ingredients.  They also make a good breakfast!

[Kem]

1 cup nut butter + heaping 1/4 cup maple syrup (or syrup of your choice... when bees are about done I tend to raid my grandpa's overflow)
Blend well
drop onto parchment, press down with oiled fingers
bake at 375* unitl they just begin to turn
cool overnight

Makes a chewy nut fudge like confection.  yummo

....

Ground tigrenuts, tapioca flour, little creame of tartar & baking soda,
barely wet with equal parts oil & nutmilk
waffle up. 
best waffles ever

....

[BECABECA]

Ran out of yeast so I made a sourdough starter from the sourdough thread. Then today I ran out of almond milk for that thread’s sourdough English muffins recipe, so I made my own oat milk. Hopefully the English muffins turn out as delicious as the first batch I made when I still had store bought almond milk!

[OtherJen]

I wanted ranch dressing for our dinner salads but didn’t have buttermilk. Plain yogurt (regular, not Greek-style) works very well as a substitute.

[GuitarStv]

I've been conserving our one bottle of yeast by using 1/4 the amount suggested in recipes, but adding more sugar and letting it stand for a couple hours in warm water before baking with it.  Seems to work fine that way.

[nessness]

I wanted to make chocolate chip cookies last week but was out of brown sugar, so I googled for a recipe that used only white sugar. They turned out good - basically indistinguishable from my regular recipe.

I've used oat flour (made by blending plain oats in the blender) and almond flour in various recipes when I wanted to bake but was out of flour. I also frequently make peanut butter cookies using a recipe that uses only peanut butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla - no flour or butter needed.

[Linea_Norway]

We have used normal dried bread yeast for brewing beer when we were out of brewing yeast. Turned out just fine.

We have used substitutes so often, that I can't recall them. But I'll write them here when they come to mind.

[cooking]

If you happen to have a jar of molasses, you can make actual brown sugar by adding 1 - 2 T. (light brown sugar v. dark brown sugar) molasses per cup of granulated sugar.  Will keep your CC cookies to a chewy texture, as opposed to all white sugar which will make them crispier.  Also, retains the caramel flavor many people favor in CC cookies.  But each to his own, of course.

Speaking of crispiness, adding rice krispies is a cheaper sub for nuts in lots of baking.  Also, adds a nice porousness to certain kinds of cookies.

Many are already familiar with this one, but just in case: when a baking recipe calls for buttermilk, sub 1 T. vinegar added to 1 cup milk for each cup of buttermilk called for.