This is a story about me standing in my kitchen in a panic asking out loud, “What can I substitute for baking soda?” It starts out as a tragedy. It turns into a fairy tale ; )
Yesterday, Jeremy and I were making some Gingerbread Blondies* for some troops overseas. I was convinced I had all the ingredients for this holiday treat.
Deep into the recipe I saw an ingredient I had misread, baking soda…not baking powder.
Jeremy knew something was wrong because as my eyes fell upon the “add baking soda” part, I screamed. I do that a lot in the kitchen. The first hundred times I did it, Jeremy thought I had cut off my fingers. Nope! When I scream in the kitchen it’s usually because I accidentally used sugar instead of salt or I am missing an ingredient or something is expired 🙂
Jeremy says I feel the need to be heard every 15 min. and that is why I randomly scream. I reject that. REJECTED. But, it’s probably something that needs to be revisited. In a therapy session. He should really look into that, poor guy. 🙂
I had to explain to him that, OBVIOUSLY, I am actually very cool and collected when under duress. Anytime something has really gone wrong, like a sliced finger (ask Brandy), a fire (not contained in a fireplace), a pecan pie falling in slow motion hot from the oven onto the floor…I am actually very quite silent. I assess. And then act.
Anyway, I screamed, showed Jeremy all my appendages to calm him down and then exclaimed, “I have no baking soda.”
What Can I Substitute for Baking Soda?
After talking to my mom (a master in the kitchen who now answers “Kitchen Hotline!” when I call her phone) I had the solution. You can use baking powder in place of baking soda, you just need to triple the amount. You can do this because there is actually baking soda in baking powder, but just a little bit.
I use the above baking soda: Argo Baking Powder! It is aluminum free! You can get it on Amazon Prime and always have it on hand!
My recipe called for 1 teaspoon of baking soda so I substituted with 3 teaspoons baking powder. (That math was for free. Any additional math requests and there will be a fee.)
BUT WAIT…another gem of a fact. There is salt in baking powder so it is usually a good rule of thumb to omit any salt the recipe calls for. My recipe called for a tsp of salt and since I like testing things…I added the salt. 🙂 I know, Out. Of. Control. I live on the edge.
When the gingerbread squares were baked and cooled, I tasted one. And screamed. And then I showed Beau all my appendages for added relief. And then noted that the baked treat was a little on the salty side.
It was slight. Not overpowering, but still there.
Other than that, they were seriously delicious. We will make these again and again for holidays to come. And they were pretty effortless (if you have a mixer). Get the recipe (or scroll to bottom of post for full recipe in printable format).
So, let’s recap. You can keep your birthday suit on (that’s what you cook in, right?) when you realize you have no baking soda. Just reach for the baking powder, triple the amount called for and omit the salt.
Done and done.
*We wanted to make a Christmas treat for the troops we know that will be gone for the holidays. I needed a treat that travels well. These blondies are both festive and travel very well. If you need to make a treat that will travel, get the recipe below.
And now for the cliff notes. This is my artistic side coming out 🙂 Enjoy:
White Chocolate Gingerbread Blondies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Ingredients
- Ingredients
- Vegetable-oil cooking spray
- 2 3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 1/2 sticks (20 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, plus 1 large egg yolk
- 1 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
- 10 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Coat a 17-by-12-inch rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
- Line bottom with parchment cut to fit, and coat parchment.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.
- Beat butter and brown and granulated sugars with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs and yolk, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla and molasses. Reduce speed to low. Gradually add flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Stir in white chocolate.
- Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake until edges are golden, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 2-inch squares or desired shape.
Notes
Blondies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Recipe Credit: Martha Stewart
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
Interesting read on baking soda substitutes! For those working with 3D models for kitchen gadgets, I’ve found glb to obj glb to obj handy for converting design files without any uploads.