Since I have always cooked alot it is not unusual to find I'm out of a key ingredient, especially if it is something that is not a staple or is a fresh product. the maple syrup substitution thread made me think it would be fun to start a thread about other substitutions.
my two favorites.....
sour cream- If you are caught without sour cream a bit of cream with lemon juice in it will do the trick. 1/2 cup cream and about a tablespoon of lemon juice will thicken after a few minutes and become a great sub.
whipped cream/cool whip- I ran across this recipe when hunting for a frosting that didn't require powdered sugar. It tastes almost exactly like cool whip/whipped cream! I refuse to allow cool whip in my house but when I can come up with some suitable containers I am going to whip up a batch of this and see if it freezes well to have a 'whipped topping" minus the hydrogenated oils on hand.
combine
1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
cook over medium heat stirring constantly till thick. cool in frig with a layer of saran wrap directly on the top to prevent a 'skin' forming.
1 1/2 cups butter
1/2-3/4 cup sugar
cream together in mixer until the mixture isn't grainy. this takes a while maybe a full 5-10 minutes. I suspect that if you have powdered sugar available it would go faster. It really does take a while. the first time I made it I wondered if it would
ever get smooth!
add 2 teaspoons vanilla
mix to combine.
with mixer running on high slowly add the cooled milk/flour mixture. It almost immediatly turns the consistancy of whipped cream!
I was amazed! but I am pretty easily amused