tips on working w / coconut oil

[MommyDOK]

I'm rolling out a pie. IS it as easy as substituing coconut oil for butter??

Does it work in ALL recipes? Are there some better than others? LIke cakes turn out well, but cookies dont?


This may be a dumb question. But co is hard at room temp. IF I bake w/ it, does everything turn hard? Thanks

[Natsuki]

You should substitute 2/3 coconut oil for the amount of butter, otherwise your baked goods will be too oily (at least that's been my experience).

[StrongBeliever]

I don't think that I have tried CO in a traditional pie crust scenario, though I have used it in a shortbread type pie crust with really good results. I have been ROUND AND ROUND with coconut oil in baking. It's been my main baking fat off and on for a long time. Personally, I don't see it working out very well in a roll-out circumstance. Due to it's either liquid or solid and very little gray area nature, it doesn't have a whole lot of plasticity. I've used it in roll out sugar cookies(holiday treats) and it left a lot to be desired... Very sticky soft dough. I've not used it in that kind of application since. You've got to keep in mind that CO doesn't have any of butter's clingy emulsifying nature. It wants to separate within whatever recipe you put it in... Eggs help there as they furnish the natural emulsifiers. CO is awesome in cakes. I like the oily moistness. I don't recommend using it full force in cookies though... It tends to make them spread way more than the same amount of butter would, and I am picky about my cookies. I throw another egg in a cookie recipe than called for in place of the same volume(as the egg) of CO if I think spreading would be unwanted in a recipe. It can take a longer, hotter bake time for a crispier cookie if you like that sort of thing. CO in general makes for a fabulous pan greaser. Always make sure there are no chunks of it floating around in any recipe... It does not cook in, it cooks out, which can get icky. I've used it in bread(decent), brownies(pretty good), quick breads(awesome), cookies(good to BAD depending on what you are after), cakes(always fabulous), muffins(good), and biscuits(okay).

I love CO. But I wish I would've known all I know now when I started out using it. It would have saved me a bunch of trouble. Basically, I'd say treat it like vegetable oil. It does great where you would expect veggie oil to perform. And no... It doesn't effect the finished texture that I have noticed. I have never had a CO cake get hard(in reference to the oil re-solidifying) or anything like that. It's a great oil to bake with, you've just got to know it's limitations.

As far as general cooking goes? Go for it! Sautes, frying, soups, stews, casseroles. I throw it in where ever it makes sense to.

[Junegoddess]

Thank you for such a detailed answer! I need to print that out and stick it in my baking book...