EGGS
This is a joke, right? Don’t you need…chickens?
NOPE. All you need is flax, baking soda and vinegar, or tofu! So, if your grocery stores are clean out of eggs, as ours are during this first week of COVID-19-induced insanity, read on for ways to use alternative ingredients in place of eggs.
1. IN BAKING.
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp ground flaxseed (golden is best)
3 Tbsp water
Instructions:
Let sit for 5 minutes. OR, use hot water and let sit for 5 minutes. OR, refrigerate until you need it.
Flax is a good substitute in baked goods like cookies and banana bread that just need 1 egg. If you want a soufflé, you’re out of luck.
b. Use baking soda and vinegar.
You’re basically replicating middle school chemistry demos when you use baking soda and vinegar in baking. The baking soda (base) + vinegar (acid) produces an explosion of carbon dioxide bubbles, which helps the cake to rise.
Crazy cakes (a.k.a. “Depression” cakes) exploit this chemical reaction and are very easy to make. They’re great because you only need flour, sugar, water, oil, vinegar, baking soda, and salt to get the party started. You can mix everything in the 8×8 inch pan the cake is baked in. You can use vanilla extract or cocoa powder to flavor. (I suppose you could alternatively use almond extract?) They’re naturally vegan–no eggs or dairy–and you can make them gluten-free too if you use a GF baking mix. I make them for student recitals and other social occasions so that those with food allergies can (usually) still partake.
These are some of our favorite crazy cake recipes:
Vanilla crazy cake
Chocolate crazy cake
Ingredients:
1 block of extra firm tofu
Optional turmeric to add yellow color
Salt, pepper, optional seasonings
Instructions:
1. Slice the tofu thinly. Press it between two towels with a heavy object on top of it for at least 15 minutes to remove most of the moisture. I use my Dutch oven for this.
2. Scramble with a fork. I used my fingers while wearing kitchen prep gloves.
3. Sauté in a skillet, the same way you would sauté real eggs. The tofu is already cooked, so sauté it only as long as necessary to heat it and/or brown it. If the tofu sticks to the pan too much, add a little more oil. If it really sticks, you can add incrementally small amounts of water to de-glaze.
We made this Southwest Tofu Scramble from Minimalist Baker over the weekend. It tasted almost like real eggs! Two thumbs up.
Southwest tofu scramble 
our breakfast plating
And we haven’t made quiche with tofu (yet), but this recipe from Oh She Glows looks great. If you make it first, please let me know how it turned out!
SUMMARY
There is NO REASON to hoard all the eggs in grocery stores! Just buy tofu and ground flaxseed, and you’re good to go. You can probably order flaxseed from Amazon and you’ll have enough “eggs” for cookies and banana bread for the rest of the year. 🙂
Disclaimers: Of course, some people are allergic to soy–if you are, õbviously don’t substitute tofu for eggs! And some people do have a real egg allergy, in which case they are already following substitutions like this. The point is, there is a creative work-around for most situations. And, assuming no food allergies, this post seeks to propose some creative work-arounds for COVID-19-related egg shortages.
Featured image at top of page: An ostrich egg, purchased from the Bluefield, Virginia, farmers market in September 2013.
