When I see a cookie or cake recipe I’m usually heading straight to the ingredients section to see if I have any of them on hand. I will make a run to the store if it’s something special, but it’s always useful to know if you can make substitutions using what you have at home. Some ingredients you can substitute in and some you absolutely should not.
Knowing when to bring in a back-up can save you the cost (and frustration) of having a recipe turn out all wrong. We often get asked by readers about substitutions for ingredients in our recipes. Here are some of the most common ingredients we get questions on.
Milk, Whipped Cream, & Cream
What’s the difference between cream, light cream, table cream, heavy cream, half and half? Table cream and light cream are the same thing, just called by different names. It contains 20% fat and will not whip.
Half and half is half milk and half light cream. It contains 12% fat.
Whipping cream is made for whipping into whipped cream and contains 35% fat.
Heavy cream contains 38% fat. You can use heavy cream in place of whipped cream – and yes it will whip.
For whipped cream you can use Cool Whip as a stand-in only if using as frosting on a cake or as a layer in a trifle. Otherwise the texture of whipped topping won’t work for most other types of recipes. Conversely if you have a candy recipe that calls for Cool Whip you will not be able to substitute whipped cream as the binders in whipped topping can stabilize these types of candies.
If you have a recipe that calls for whole milk you can add some cream and a bit of water to make up the difference in volume. However, the same cannot always be said for milk standing in for cream.
Some cream sauces can handle using milk instead of cream, but they will be nowhere near as rich and silky. When to use them comes down to what type of dish you’re making. Mac and cheese? Milk is fine. Alfredo? Spring for the good stuff (cream).
To make a buttermilk substitute combine 1 spoonful white vinegar with 1 cup milk (whole if you can). This will simulate that rich, tangy flavor of buttermilk for baking recipes.
Canned Milks
There are a lot of differences between sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk. Condensed milk is very, very thick, and very sweet. In recipes like poke cake, flan, impossible cake, or custard this heavy hitter can do the work of a thickener, a dairy product, and sugar all at the same time. You will not be able to use evaporated milk to do that in any recipe, so stick to the ingredients list when it comes to these two canned milks.
Evaporated milk is much thinner than sweetened condensed milk and is lightly sweet. If you don’t have it on hand for a recipe you can use some regular milk and add an extra sprinkle of sugar if the end result needs it. In a pinch you can also use evaporated milk as a coffee creamer or to make hot cocoa.
Different Types of Butters & Oils
A good rule of thumb is that if a recipe calls for butter as a flavoring agent, like on green beans or in some sauces, then using a vegan butter or margarine will work. The flavor will be different, but it will work.
For baked goods some recipes will become much softer post-baking if butter is not used. Some examples are in soft cookies and in fruit breads. You can use vegetable butters but the finished result might be a lot softer than you intended.
The same can be said for solid versus liquid oils. Shortening solidifies at room temperature and olive oil doesn’t. For very soft items shortening is better at helping to retain the shape of the baked good. My rule of thumb here is to use shortening when called for in a recipe unless I have time to test it with another fat. The reason is all about the texture, not so much the flavor.
When it comes to spreads and whipped butters it is not advisable to use them in baking since they can contain other ingredients and also air that can throw the balance off in your recipes.
Brown Sugars
The differences between brown sugar, dark brown sugar, and light brown sugar are slight. For most recipes you can use them interchangeably as long as you’re ok with lighter/darker results. The flavor is a little deeper with dark brown sugar so using light may make the finished result less rich.
If a recipe calls for turbinado sugar, a type of crystalline brown sugar, then stick with it as regular (soft) brown sugar has a much different texture and moisture content.
Salad Dressings
The differences between mayonnaise and Miracle Whip are largely down to flavor and sweetness, with the latter being noticeably sweeter than most mayo. This is a personal preference since not everyone agrees on how sweet any given dish should taste.
