Sour Cream Helps Wash Eggs Better Than Real Eggs

There are times when eggs are non-negotiable in a recipe (like egg drop soup or quiche), but when eggs play a secondary role, why not use a substitute? Washing eggs is a prime example. Its use adds color and shine to finished baked goods such as scones and pies, but when eggs are sold at a premium, it’s hard to justify using an egg wash at all.

Finding a good alternative to washing eggs is not only good for saving money, but it can also be a handy backup even if there are a lot of eggs. There is always a case when you simply run out of food or people come to you who are on an egg-free diet. After some browsing online, butter, mayonnaise, milk, heavy cream, maple syrup and sour cream seem to be common substitutes.

I made a batch of my favorite cookies and colored them with different colors so I could compare them after baking. In the picture above you can see that there are eight cookies. In addition to the six alternatives I mentioned, I used one with a real egg wash so we could keep track of what we were aiming for, and one that had absolutely nothing as a control.

Within 25 minutes the results came back and I was very surprised. Each filling produced a different result; some are more obvious than others. When egg liquid is used as a filling (as opposed to a binder), its main function is to add color, shine and leave no trace of flavor, so that’s what I was looking for.

Here are the results from top left to right and bottom left to right.

• Washing eggs: the goal is browning and shine

• Sour cream: better browning, high shine (outshines egg).

• Dense cream: Light brown, light shine.

• Whole milk: well browned, light shine.

• No wash: Light brown, matte.

• Maple Syrup: Well browned, no shine.

• Mayonnaise: Medium browning, medium gloss.

• Oil: Light brown, without shine.

Without a doubt, the winner was sour cream. I daresay it worked even better than the actual egg wash. (I tried to capture the dazzling shine in the picture below.) The color of the baked sponge cake topped with sour cream was a beautiful dark brown, and the shine surpassed even the egg wash standard.

Second place went to mayonnaise and whole milk for their average performance in both categories. In the vegan version, maple syrup adds a gorgeous brown color, but it’s definitely not shiny and still leaves a subtle sweet taste (which can be either good or bad, depending on your preference).

The oil turned out to have the worst performance. I would have been sad, but I’ve been fooled by oil before, so I was expecting disappointment. On both counts, the result paled in comparison to its competitors. Not to mention butter, at least you have several options the next time you make a batch of cookies, scones, pastries or pies. Save the eggs until they are most useful.

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