STORY BY SHELBY JENSEN
Usually I use this column to test out a recipe from the Internet or share ways to upgrade college classics. This week, though, I have a story to share.
I went home last weekend. My friends decided to make brownies. So they went to the C-Store and picked up some mix.
Naturally, the C-Store doesn’t carry vegetable oil or eggs, which are the only two ingredients you need. Off to a great start. They asked if they could borrow my oil, and instead of walking to Walgreens, Googled what to substitute for eggs in brownies.
The Internet told them to use extra oil instead of eggs. I bet you can see where this is going.
After what must have been nearly a cup of oil, the brownies went in the oven to bake. When they were finished 50 minutes later, my friends were left with a boiling pan of brownie soup and a somewhat smelly dorm kitchen. The brownies didn’t bake and turned into chocolate-flavored lava, and that’s not an exaggeration.
They tried again later, using way less oil (but still no eggs). Same result. They blame the oven, but I think the absence of eggs is at fault.
The Internet may be convinced that oil is an okay substitute, but in recipes where eggs are the main ingredient responsible for the chemical reaction of baking, it simply won’t work.
How do I know this? To be honest, I’ve tried to do this with mug cakes before, and twice have ended up with soupy, sad wastes of food. With extended cooking, they crystallize a little bit but keep bubbling. You can do 15 minutes in the microwave and it still won’t work (not that I’ve tried).
To avoid this sadness, I suggest just buying eggs, even if you have to spend real money. Learn from our mistakes.
Also, stop trusting everything you read on the Internet.
