# Sugar crust without eggs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 26, 2014, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sugar-crust-without-eggs/684639 "2014-03-26T21:37:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sugar-crust-without-eggs/684639/1 "2014-03-26T21:37:30Z")
I would want to make some pastries for someone who is severely allergic to eggs. What I would want to do normally require sugar crust. I’m not sure what the crust would be like without the eggs. Is there a way to replace the eggs with something else? Or is there a crust that would be somewhat similar, but does not require eggs? ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sugar-crust-without-eggs/684639/2 "2014-03-26T22:24:36Z")
Do you mind sharing the original recipe with us so we can help tweak it? Frankly, I’m not certain of what a “sugar crust” even is in the 1st place … ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sugar-crust-without-eggs/684639/3 "2014-03-27T18:36:46Z")
My husband puts a sugar crust on pie by just wetting the dough on top of the pie with cold water then sprinkling sugar over it. (for apple pie he puts on cinnamon on too) We have the same egg allergy thing in the familiy too. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sugar-crust-without-eggs/684639/4 "2014-03-27T20:54:23Z")
puff pastry has no eggs… ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sugar-crust-without-eggs/684639/5 "2014-03-28T01:29:36Z")
I’m not sure what you mean by sugar crust, either - what’s the French term? Most standard American pie crust (not tart crust) recipes don’t include egg, just butter and/or shortening, flour, ice water, and maybe a bit of salt and/or sugar. The recipe I usually use is this: (for an 8-inch pie crust) 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup shortening (I’ve also used coconut oil successfully) 2 - 3 tablespoons cold water Tart pastry is firmer and usually includes egg yolk or whole egg. What exactly are you trying to make? You might try [shortbread](http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Shortbread-51145200) as a base instead if you’re looking for something firmer than pie crust. You might just have to experiment and taste-test the results 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sugar-crust-without-eggs/684639/6 "2014-03-28T02:06:22Z")
If you go into a health store they often have packets of egg substitute mixes, sometimes Australian. I’ve not used them, but I notice them being vegan. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sugar-crust-without-eggs/684639/7 "2014-03-28T08:36:43Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Do you mind sharing the original recipe with us so we can help tweak it? Frankly, I’m not certain of what a “sugar crust” even is in the 1st place … > [@sinjin](#): > > My husband puts a sugar crust on pie by just wetting the dough on top of the pie with cold water then sprinkling sugar over it. (for apple pie he puts on cinnamon on too) We have the same egg allergy thing in the familiy too. > [@ouryL](#): > > puff pastry has no eggs… > [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > I’m not sure what you mean by sugar crust, either - what’s the French term? Most standard American pie crust (not tart crust) recipes don’t include egg, just butter and/or shortening, flour, ice water, and maybe a bit of salt and/or sugar. ) OK. What I want to make is “pate sablée” in French. I put that into an online translator and it translated it as “sugar crust”. After checking some recipes, [like this one](http://www.marthastewart.com/318872/sugar-crust) before posting, I noticed it was indeed reasonnably similar. A crust made of flour, quite a lot of sugar, quite a lot of butter and one or two eggs/egg yolks. I guess from your responses that even though the translation appears to be correct, it’s not something most people are familiar with, as I expected they would be. It’s not a random crust with some sugar on it, however, and I’m not interested in making a puff pastry, either. It’s also not for a pie. As for the original recipe, I can give a link but it will be in French and expressed in grams, so I’m not sure it will help. [Here’s](http://chefsimon.lemonde.fr/pate-sablee.html) a recipe of “pate sablee” with several pictures, the clearer example I could find since you don’t need to understand the language to see how it’s made , and [here’s](http://www.cuisineetvinsdefrance.com/,barquettes-a-la-creme-de-marrons,24120,11596.asp) what I want to make (obviously it won’t be as good looking). ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sugar-crust-without-eggs/684639/8 "2014-03-28T08:54:51Z")
In fact, searching for a recipe in english of “barquettes aux marrons” I found a couple using “shorcrust” (I hope it will be more familiar than “sugar crust”) which made me realize that what kind of crust I use doesn’t really matter that much (“shortcrust” is apparently made without sugar nor eggs) since what is appealing in this pastry is what you put _on_ the crust, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![BleizDu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@BleizDu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BleizDu)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sugar-crust-without-eggs/684639/9 "2014-03-28T09:01:07Z")
Hum, I never made de la pâte sablée containing egg and it turned out fine, but now I’m curious to try with one. Does it add only color or do you think it changes a lot the texture of the pâte? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sugar-crust-without-eggs/684639/10 "2014-03-28T09:02:23Z")
In fact, all things considered, I could as well put the mix into a puff pastry too. It’s non canonical but it’s probably equally good. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sugar-crust-without-eggs/684639/11 "2014-03-28T09:04:33Z")
> [@BleizDu](#): > > Hum, I never made de la pâte sablée containing egg and it turned out fine, but now I’m curious to try with one. Does it add only color or do you think it changes a lot the texture of the pâte? Well, I don’t know, I always used egg yolks. That’s why I was asking, in fact. I was fearing it wouldn’t hold together and crumble or something. But if you do it without, I guess it will be fine. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sugar-crust-without-eggs/684639/12 "2014-03-28T09:08:58Z")
I also will investigate this egg substitute thing. I never heard about it, and I don’t know if it’s available over here, but it might be worth a try (not specifically for this recipe). ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sugar-crust-without-eggs/684639/13 "2014-03-28T14:26:08Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > OK. What I want to make is “pate sablée” in French. I put that into an online translator and it translated it as “sugar crust”. After checking some recipes, [like this one](http://www.marthastewart.com/318872/sugar-crust) before posting, I noticed it was indeed reasonnably similar. A crust made of flour, quite a lot of sugar, quite a lot of butter and one or two eggs/egg yolks. I guess from your responses that even though the translation appears to be correct, it’s not something most people are familiar with, as I expected they would be. > > It’s not a random crust with some sugar on it, however, and I’m not interested in making a puff pastry, either. It’s also not for a pie. As for the original recipe, I can give a link but it will be in French and expressed in grams, so I’m not sure it will help. [Here’s](http://chefsimon.lemonde.fr/pate-sablee.html) a recipe of “pate sablee” with several pictures, the clearer example I could find since you don’t need to understand the language to see how it’s made , and [here’s](http://www.cuisineetvinsdefrance.com/,barquettes-a-la-creme-de-marrons,24120,11596.asp) what I want to make (obviously it won’t be as good looking). I know what pate sablee is, and in fact, as with many culinary terms, quite a number of my English language cookbooks and many websites will provide the French as an alternate term. It’s usually translated as shortcrust pastry (at least that’s how I’ve usually seen it), or sometimes as tart pastry. I’ve got an entire bookshelf full of cookbooks and cook and bake quite a lot, but have never once seen the term “sugar crust” until now. I think that’s why people are confused.