Food Substitutions – What to use when you run out of something

So you’ve decided to make something special for your special someone and right in the middle of mixing you realize you don’t have enough milk…What do you do?

You substitute something for something.  But what with what?  Most recipes call for the standard ingredients, and those are the ones that you will be able to substitute.

So the following list of ingredients will have substitutions listed out beside each ingredient and trust me…you won’t notice a difference in your recipe or the taste…

Here’s how it works…

Your recipe calls for 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, but you don’t have it, so you can substitute the cornstarch with 2 Tablespoons flour OR 1 and  1/2 Tablespoons of quick cooking tapioca.

So here are some other substitutes:

1 cup cake flour = 1 cup minus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup all-purpose flour = 1 cup minus 2 Tablespoons cake flour

1 square baking chocolate = 3 Tablespoons cocoa and 1 Tablespoon fat

1 cup melted shortening = 1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup milk = 1/2 cup evaporated milk and 1/2 cup water

1 cup sour milk or buttermilk = 1 Tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar and enough sweet milk to measure 1 cup

1 cup heavy cream = 2/3 cup milk and 1/3 cup butter

1 cup heavy cream, whipped – 2/3 cup well-chilled evaporated milk, whipped

1 egg = 2 Tablespoons dried whole egg and 2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon baking powder = 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup sugar = 1 cup honey (you will want to reduce other liquid in recipe by 1/4 cup…so if your recipe calls for 1/2 cup of water, you will only want to put 1/4 cup of water into the recipe if you use this substitution).  And you will want to reduce the baking temperature by 25′ (so if your recipe calls for your baking temperature to be 350′, you will want to change this to 325′ to before baking)

1 medium onion = 2 Tablespoons instant minced onion OR 1 teaspoon onion powder OR 2 teaspoons onion salt; you will want to reduce the salt amount that your recipe calls for if you use these substitute.

1 garlic clove = 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder OR 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt; with either of these substitutes, you will want to reduce the salt your recipe calls for by 1/8 teaspoon.

So now you know what to use if you don’t have all of the ingredients…