I suck at baking and could use your expert advice
First, I am not a baker. If it doesn't come in a box with instructions, I have no clue. But I am trying and I experimented with some cookies. Here was the original recipe:
1 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp milk
1 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla
I wanted to make this as "healthy" as possible so I subbed applesauce for the oil, oats for the chocolate chips, egg replacer, soy milk and honey for the sugar. The batter tasted yummy but they did not have a cookie texture at all. Instead they stayed in the same shape I placed them on the pan and became these rubbery blobs. The next batch I flattened them into a cookie shape but they were still...spongy is the best word for it. Did I do too many substitutions? Did omitting a dry sugar make them spongy? I guess I should just stick to following recipes when it comes to baking. :-\
I often find that spongeyness occurs when I replace all the oil with applesauce (which sucks because I like to make my baked goods as healthy as possible). I've learned that I just have to compromise and only sub about half or a little more of the oil--that little bit will usually make a world of difference.
Also, dry sugar will act like a liquid in baking, so in most cases it can be replaced by a liquid sweetener with no adverse effects.
me too! baking is SO hard! I've decided to actually follow recipes first, and then, once I'm more comfortable with all that, I can experiment...
your oats are obsorbing the moistrue, use carob chips if you want it more healthy.
that's all i got...
can you turn your oats into oat flour by whirring in a food processor? ive done it for a little amount for the blueberry beakfast cake and it turned out it well, but its a diff texture than cookies, so im not sure.
also use raisins instead of chips.
you can usually cut back on a bit of sugar and not notice it.
im with you laurabs... i always want to "tweak" a recipe...until it becomes a new "recipe" ie: disaster! i need to learn my lesson! :D