A failed egg muffin recipe and a proven one for baked egg challenges

I failed at baking muffins with eggs

Above is a picture of the first two eggs to enter my household in FOUR years. I was so excited when I took the picture, better quickly capture this epic moment I thought. Finally! we might be introducing eggs back into our diets. These two eggs never made it into my family history books, instead they made it as far as my dustbin.

But wait a minute you say, aren’t eggs the default ingredient in baking? So how could I mess it up?

Not true for a person, who for the past four years, has baked perfectly airy sponge cakes without using any eggs and dairy. Try my crazy chocolate cake recipe that has no eggs, no dairy and no nuts and you will understand why.

Maybe I was too nervous when handling the eggs.

I even had trouble cracking them ??‍♀️. So nervous was I about having raw egg in the house, I washed all utensils that touched them with hot water after. Anyhow, my recipe tanked. I thought I could adapt my crazy chocolate cake vegan recipe by simply adding the eggs. I ended up with muffins so dry and tasteless, they were only worthy of use as torture instruments. Hit me up if you need a recipe to make some choking death muffins.

Luckily, I was smart enough to ask for 2 extra eggs from my mother in law.

For my second attempt, I used the tried and tested recipe provided by the hospital. The recipe and notes are further down below.

Was my paranoia with eggs warranted?

Corey’s severe egg allergy was diagnosed when he was 6 months old. At first we couldn’t figure out why the allergic reactions kept happening. Especially since he was breastfed and not eating solids yet. Then our allergist finally solves the mystery by postulating that his reactions were air borne. Our doctor’s favourite story is about how a grandmother who would eat soft boiled eggs every day, the come home and repeatedly infect her grandson when she kissed him. Egg protein allergens can linger in our breaths and in the air. This creates problems for those severely allergic to eggs (especially infants).

Total avoidance. “No going to food courts or kopitiams or anywhere where eggs are cooked”, our doctor said “If you can smell it, he can react”.

Comply we did. So for the past four years, not even a trace of real mayo has made it through our front door. If we so much as eat a fried egg outside, we would brush our teeth before going near him.

Related: Corey’s severe allergies finally diagnosed at6 months old.

Life without eggs has been a blissful one

Going without eggs (and all forms of egg derivative) at home was one of the best decisions because while the past four years have been inconvenient, we finally have control over chronic eczema and severe allergic reactions.

So no regrets at all.

I do catch myself feeling sad once in a while when I realise he cannot enjoy pandan cake or nasi lemak which were staples of my own childhood.

But these days, the sad moments never last. I’m usually too busy laughing or screaming at the next antic my thriving cheeky monkey comes up with.

So why bother to challenge now?

While I have learnt to fully embrace our allergen friendly lifestyle, I am acutely aware of the challenges Corey will face as he grows up with these allergies. Like every allergy parent, I am deeply concerned about serious reactions that may occur while I am not present. Will his teachers remember how to administer the Epipen Junior? Will he remember to tell anyone once any discomfort occurs? Needing to know exactly how his allergies are developing is a huge impetus to action for me.

Moreover, a study done in Australia in 2012 showed that being able to tolerate baked egg, accelerates the development of regular egg tolerance compared to strict avoidance.

So since our recent skin prick test showed raw egg white to be similar to histamines levels, our doctor urged us to consider a hospital food challenge.

Related: DIETARY BAKED EGG ACCELERATES RESOLUTION OF EGG ALLERGY IN CHILDREN

A tried and tested recipe for baked egg challenges that works

The Essence of a baked egg challenge is to have the egg baked at a certain temperature for a certain amount of time such that it alters the proteins that cause the allergic reactions.

It is also important to remember how much egg the child has consumed per muffin so that an accurate reading of the reactions can be recorded.

After my failed attempt, I had 2 eggs left to baked with. As such, I felt it best to follow the recipe given to me by the hospital exactly. It worked well and tasted good. Although I did end up with more than the listed 6 muffins due to my small muffin liners. But that’s an easy problem to fix because Corey just needs to eat more muffin to make up how much baked egg he needs to eat.

So here we are, with banana egg muffins that were a bit tad over baked, ready for anything that happens tomorrow at our challenge. Wish us luck and check back for our experience going for a food challenge in the hospital.

General Disclaimers:

All opinions and views expressed herein are the author’s own and not anyone else’s. Any quotes from medical healthcare professionals are written from the author’s perspective and should not be construed as medical advice. Every child and every symptom is different thus it is important to seek advice from a professional allergist or dermatologist for your unique situation. All images and pictures on this website are copyright of the owner of this website and cannot be used or downloaded without permission.

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