Baking & Sweet Treats with Olive Oil: Tips & Tricks
Baking & Sweet Treats with Olive Oil: Tips & Tricks
Baking with olive oil – instead of butter, margarine or vegetable oils like canola – dramatically improves the quality of fats you're consuming! Most oils and butter go through extensive processing before they reach your kitchen; using extra virgin olive oil cuts saturated fat and promotes good cholesterol, while adding depth of flavor and moistness to baked goods.
Feel free to swap in olive oil in recipes that call for melted butter or vegetable oil. These baked goods are typically more moist and a bit dense, such as firmer cakes, muffins, quick breads, brownies, and granola. We suggest either using a milder olive oil such Olio Santo, or try Blood Orange,Lisbon LemonandRosemary oils, when you want to infuse a particular flavor.
A Few Tips when substituting olive oil for other fats:
Vegetable oils can swap one-to-one.
For a successful swap with butter, use three parts olive oil to four parts butter. For example, if a baking recipe calls for a stick of butter (8 tablespoons), use 6 tablespoons of olive oil.
The only time olive oil is not an acceptable substitute for solid fats is in recipes that require creaming of the butter and sugar (super light and fluffy cakes), or when the fat needs to stay solid, as in a frosting.
Check out some of our favorite olive oil baking recipes below and on the Baking Recipes section of our website!