An experiment in substitution

Last fall, I did a presentation in my nutrition class on the benefits of incorporating flax seed into your diet. One of the factlets I came across was that flax seed can act as an egg-cellent (had to) baking substitute for eggs! I avoided trying it for awhile, until I got halfway through a brownie recipe and realized there were no eggs in the fridge. A simple Google search gave me the following proportions for replacing eggs with flaxseed.

To replace ONE egg:

3 tbsp ground flax seed

1 tbsp water

Stir with fork or whisk. I ended up with a watery consistency, but there were no adverse effects on the brownies.

You can use whole flax seed if you don't have access to a processor. Just add one extra tablespoon of whole flax seed. Keep in mind that the body will more readily absorb the many nutrients in flax if it is ground first. Besides the health benefits this also will transform your recipe into a vegetarian one.

This substitute works great in a pinch, but I think I'll stick with using eggs. I eat flax in everything as it is, and there's a few vitamins special to eggs that I like to add whenever possible. Mostly this is for me to accommodate to my vegan friends :) Enjoy!