Removing Nuts From Recipes

Q: I’m wondering if leaving the nuts out of a recipe will affect anything?

A: If a recipe uses whole or coarsely chopped nuts you can remove them from the recipe without having a major effect on the final bake. Obviously the ‘crunch’ factor and subtle flavour provided by the nuts will be missing but overall you will be able to successfully remove them without affecting the baking time, texture or flavour. Depending on how many nuts are used, the volume of mixture may also be affected slightly. It is a different story though if you are omitting finely ground or nut meal as this is an ingredient that is used not only for flavour and texture but also bulk and fat, and therefore the texture will be affected considerably along with the way the recipe actually bakes. It is good to note that the degree in which the recipe will be affected is directly related to the amount used – the smaller the amount the smaller the affect.