When it comes to substitutions, I wish I could answer each and every one of your questions. Unfortunately, I can’t. You see, I don’t have a crystal ball with the answers; they’re not in my head, they’re in my hands, but I’ll get to that later.
For me, baking involves the use of techniques and ingredients that come together in a magical way –each recipe is unique. Like my hero Virginia Satir, I believe in “leading the change process a half a step behind,” which has meant learning to use my senses and see what is called for in each recipe. In some ways, my recipes develop themselves as I test them. I let things happen and unexpected outcomes can be my friend during this process.
This observational experience in which I arrive at answers by using my senses –of sight, touch, smell and taste (sometimes sound too) is an organic process. I test and test my recipes until I arrive at something that appeals to me. After that, I give samples to my family. If they approve, I test the recipe without changing it, a few more times just to make sure I have something that is reproducible.
If you are looking for a substitute, I encourage you to validate these findings for yourself through trial and error. Feel free to experiment with the ingredients in my recipes and customize them to your needs, whatever those may be.
If you like to customize recipes to your individual preferences in terms of taste and nutrition, by all means, go wild and experiment! Just make sure to stop back by and leave a comment on your alchemical experience –and let us know your results.
So here’s my answer to your substitution questions. I don’t have a magic wand that I can wave to come up with the answers. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find them –just get out that bowl and spoon and start stirring!
Free exclusive eBook, plus recipes and health tips, delivered to your inbox.
Dina says
I learn so much from this site! Thank you Elana and everyone. Looking forward to the next cookbook!!
Brittany @Real Sustenance says
You nailed a very frustrating subject for recipe developers right on the head, and with such grace. All the more reason why I think you are amazing. Happy holidays!!! xo, Brittany
Robin says
Loving the new recipes! I have been using recipes from your books and website for almost two years, always subbing honey for agave and organic, grass-fed butter for grapeseed (or any other oil other than coconut), and have had great results. I usually substitute the same amounts, although sometimes can cut back on the amount of honey. Anyone looking for primal substitutions should feel free to try butter and honey.
Thanks again for your great recipes!
Jeanne J says
I sub butter (or olive oil) and honey, one for one, in most of Elana’s recipes and it usually works. My most recent success was with the Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies from the Almond Flour Cookbook. These are fantastic! I also added pecans and cinnamon to the mix and they are really perfect. Thanks for the GREAT recipes, Elana!
Lexie @ Lexie's Kitchen says
Well said Elana! One thing I learned from a previous editor of Bon Appetite is that “the recipe has GOT to work.” We don’t dare post a recipe that doesn’t. The recipes you create have been designed, tested and retested to “work.” Behind the scenes, a lot of ingredients go to waste. Dozens of failed muffins and cakes have ended up in my trash can—and those ingredients were not free! Food blogging can be an expensive hobby :)… but my need to give and to help those with dietary restrictions trumps my concern for having a higher grocery bill. And about ingredients … our diets change over time, we continue to find what works for and is good for our body. Flexibility is a good and healthy thing.
Suzanne says
Does anyone know if you can sub coconut oil for vegan shortening?
Alicia Crevier says
I do that all the time :)
Marilyn says
I have used your chocolate chip cookie recipe several times, but the last couple of times I made the cookies, I used a dry sweetner instead of the agave (sugar substiute called Whey-Low) and added an egg and used a little less grapeseed oil. They came out pretty well and someone even asked me for the recipe.
claudia says
On behalf of my grandson, I have to write to ask you not to use palm oil–or at least be sure that the palm oil has been sustainably produced. “Palm oil plantations devastate the forest and create a monoculture on the land, in which orangutans cannot survive. Over the years, Galdikas has fought off loggers, poachers and miners, but nothing has posed as great a threat to her “babies” as palm oil.
There are only an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 orangutans left in the wild, 90 percent of them in Indonesia.”
http://www.janegoodall.ca/Palmoilfrenzythreatenstowipeoutorangutans.php
Celia says
Thank you for continuing to post delicious and healthful recipes!
I didn’t substitute much in your recipes until the ratio rally post about quickbreads (muffins), at which point I realized that ratios should work just as well with your recipes and tweaking as with conventional grain-based recipes. Now I just tweak little things here and there to my family’s taste.
(PS: I love your paleo bread… Best bread recipe yet. :) )
Marjorie Morrison says
I have had success with substitutions…I am a lo-carber. In most recipes, I cut the agave in half & add the equivalent in a stevia/erythritol combo, which is a powder. To make up for the liquid, I add more oil, olive or grapeseed. Works like a charm.
Iv says
I like that idea, thank you! I substitute purely liquid stevia for agave but I found that the pastries remain dry and they only come up a bit. Not sure if the muffins for example are suppose to come up higher or not as I haven’t tried the recipes with agave, but looking at the pictures, it seems Elena’s are taller than mine and I scoop much more dough in the muffin cups than suggested (double). Because I know there is some king of interaction between thickening agents such as arrowroot powder and sweeteners such as agave and honey, I am pretty sure that using the water based stevia does not result in the same chemical interaction which probably prevents the dough from rising.
I am really happy with the taste of stevia as a sweetener in baked goods and the result it has on my blood sugar (keeps it balanced), so I am looking forward to new recipes from Elena that hopefully will contain purely stevia as a sweetener…
DamselflyDiary says
Being gluten free I have had to experiment with a lot of substitutions for flour in recipes. My only comment Elana is that when you start using all new ingredients, I then need to go out and buy all new products to try your recipes. It gets expensive, and almond flour is already a really expensive ingredient.
I know I have gone to the store to buy something you had in a recipe only to find it costing a lot more than I wanted to pay – especially not knowing if I would like it or how much of it I would actually use. That said, I might not have tried and like agave nectar had you not started using it so one never knows where my next favorite thing will come from.
Also readers, a little tip when substituting . . . don’t look at it as an all or nothing substitution. I have found that a blend of gluten free flours works best. The same might be said for sugars. So try mixing agave with honey or maple syrup. Or fructose with sucrose. Or stevia with sucrose. You will likely get the best of both and less of the negative of each.