We recently received a question in our Kitchn inbox about substituting yolks for whole eggs in a cookie recipe. Baking is often more chemistry than anything else, so we thought we'd take a look at this question from a scientific perspective!
Food Science: Egg Substitutions in Cookies and Brownies
We know from our own baking experience that eggs help make the finished product tender and moist, give it a golden color, and provide some richness of flavor. Along with flour, eggs also help set the structure of whatever it is you're baking.
In these cases, we're generally talking about whole eggs. To get an idea for what happens when yolks are used instead of a whole egg, we turned to our new favorite baking resource BakeWise by Shirley O. Corriher.
She advises us to think of an egg as three ingredients that each do something different in the cookie. Egg whites are mostly protein, so they help set the structure and dry baked goods out. Yolks are primarily fats, vitamins, and minerals with some protein, and they make baked goods moist and give a smooth texture. Whole eggs do a bit of both.
Based on this understanding of what the different parts do, our guess is that substituting a whole egg with two yolks would give us a very tender and moist cookie with a cake-like structure. Because we lose the proteins in the whites, the cookie would likely be crumbly. The flavor wouldn't be affected very much, though the cookie would taste richer.
Does anyone have experience with substituting eggs in cookies or other baked goods? What do you think would happen?
Related: Help! How do I Fix My Muffin Recipe?
(Image: Emma Christensen for the Kitchn)
Tags
Food Science, Baking Products, baking, cookies, eggs, browniesRelated Links
- BakeWise by Shirley O. Corriher
Book Review 2009 - Egg Substitutes in Baking? Try Flax Seed!
- Food Science: Why Chocolate Seizes
- Quick Tip: How to Fix a Broken Sauce
- The Good, Bad, and Ugly: Nitrites and Their Role in Preserving Meats
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in a quest to make baked good even modestly healthier, what about substituting some extra whites for a yolk somewhere in there? i'd be curious to know what that would do to a recipe...
view TDS7's profile
I did muffins yesterday with no dairy at all. They were yummy and great muffiny texture...but cookies, I am afraid to try this. I hear that using vital wheat gluten will do the trick..??
view missmarie's profile
I bake a lot, but have never used eggs. In cakes, try substituting canola oil, apple sauce, or even yogurt (soy will still keep the cholesterol out, unlike dairy yogurt). For crispy cookies, use a tablespoon of ground flax seeds mixed in three tablespoons water per egg.
I've never tried substitutions for more than two eggs, though.
view SeitanSaidDance's profile
I've seen a recent slew of egg substitutions using ground flax seed. I haven't tried it myself yet, but using this and coconut oil, would make for a healthier and vegan option. The taste....? Maybe you should do a head to head for brownies and cookies.
view edava72's profile
I use packaged egg whites instead of whole eggs in baking all the time and I've never noticed any difference.
view suzyblue's profile
No interest in egg substitutions myself, but man oh man those cookies look goooood.... With the salt sprinkled on? Yum.
view Brooklynnina's profile
I recently baked some stuff for my mom, who is sensitive to egg whites but loves egg yolks. The standard "just use the whites and leave out the yolks" advice didn't work here, of course, because I wanted to use the yolks but not the whites.
After consulting with folks on King Arthur Flour's Baking Circle, I decided to make a trip to the health food store to get Ener-G's Egg Substitute, a non-dairy vegan powder made of various starches and emulsifiers that directly substitutes for eggs, either in whole or in part.
The bread I made called for three eggs, and I replaced them with three yolks and the directed amount of the Ener-G Egg Substitute with water, and it turned out great. Mom loved it, which isn't always true with things I make for her (her food tastes solidified back in 1722 and she's not going to change them now!). It was $6.50 for a box, but it keeps forever and substitutes for about 10 dozen eggs, so it's a good buy, and I recommend it.
view mdeatherage's profile
Hey, how come my chocolate chip cookies never look like the ones in this picture? Anybody have a good recipe that will produce cookies that look as good as those?
view Barbara Isenberg's profile
My sister is a vegetarian and tried for years to make a great chocolate chip cookie minus the eggs. Tofu makes GREAT cookies. I think it's something like 1/4 cup silken tofu per egg. Her cookies always came out super soft and she just used the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag.
Applesauce works pretty well for cookies too.
view Rolen the Great's profile
banana! I made chocolate chip cookies for years with bananas instead of eggs. It seems as though I've lost the recipe though... this one is pretty similar:
http://www.boutell.com/vegetarian/cookies.html
view FromTheFuture's profile