Ex-squeeze me?

“Panic” can be defined as the sensation one experiences when one goes to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies, and discovers that there is no baking soda to be found in the house. I mean, who doesn’t keep baking soda on hand? WTF?!

Anyway, I did a bit of Googling for substitutions, because I know that you can use baking soda and cream of tartar to substitute for baking powder, so I figured there had to be a substitute for baking soda. Well, all of the sites I checked said the same thing: there is no direct substitute for baking soda.

But I refused to be flummoxed, so I used baking powder anyway. The recipe called for one teaspoon of baking soda; I simply used one teaspoon of baking powder. And the cookies turned out fine. In fact, they actually rose to a greater degree than they have in the past, which was a welcome discovery; I like “poofy” chocolate chip cookies better than the “flat” kinds. So this experiment turned out well.