Anyone bake with coconut oil?

I coconut oil for many reasons. I try to sub it out for other fats as much as possible (avocado oil is the back-up; I just haven't been able to learn to love coconutty eggs and such), particularly in baking.

I've found it to produce fabulously moist, naturally-preserved cakes. It's particularly helpful when I'm baking gluten-free because those flours tend to be kind of dry and sandy. However, I've found that in a lot of cookies and brownies, swapping out all of the fat for organic, virgin coconut oil produces an oily--sometimes slightly, others VERY--finished product. Yet it's usually fine when I use somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 coconut oil, and butter for the balance.

So, what do you think is going wrong? One site I found said "add 1/2 to 1 Tbsp. of water per 1/2 cup of coconut oil to mimick the water content of butter." Other [mostly] Paleo and GF/CSF Diet sites have suggested using coconut butter instead, but that's very expensive to buy and a pain to make.

The other day I made my favorite Triple Ginger Spice Cookies, and I also subbed out a few tablespoons of flour for coconut flour because it's so absorbent. That did help a little bit. At least I didn't have oil oozing out of my cookies, but it also changed the texture somewhat, even though I also compensated with a bit of extra moisture.

Other ideas? I'd really like to be able to swap it out for all of the fat in most of my baked goods!

Hi Erika,

You are using too much coconut oil. I have used it and it is okay. You mentioned avocado oil - why not try to use mashed avo as an oil/butter substitute. It is awesome. Use 50% by mass of the oil requirement and thin your batter with water/milk to achieve the desired consistency. I was very skeptical when I got this advice but it is unexpectedly good.

I might try mashed avocado in something. I've been wanting to try making frosting and ice cream out of them. Avocados are kind of expensive to use as a baking ingredient, but I usually keep them on hand in the warmer months, and there's always that one that gets a little too ripe before I can use it.

I guess I'm asking how to maximize my use of coconut oil without the oily end result. Like you, I've had great results subbing it for 1/2 the fat in cookies and brownies, but I'd love to be able to use coconut oil (or coconut butter, if that's the solution) for all of the fat, if possible.

I am lucky enough to have a massive avo tree in full fruit in my garden at the moment... We are picking about 20 a day... Want some? They WILL do off in the mail

I love using avocados! Keep them in the fridge if you want to slow down the ripening pace.

I suggest creamy pasta sauces or mac'n cheese. Another way I like to eat avocado is sliced and drizzled with soy sauce or ponzu. I have yet to use it in sweets, but I've had my eye on a chocolate avocado pudding. (*^_^*)

I'll add that, I really didn't like avocado before trying this mac'n cheese. After that I started adding it to meals and slowly eating it until it became a normal food for me.

sorry, I don't have much experience with coconut oil.

I vote for coconut oil for everything... plus, I just ran out. My skin can really feel it... I'm dry, dry, dry... like an old woman. Oh wait. I am an old woman...
There might be coconut oils specifically for cooking... I seem to remember reading that somewhere... some retaining the coconut flavor, maybe..? I've never cooked with it but it makes sense. This is a sweet place outside of Portland, OR... I've ordered from them before.

Erika, try decreasing the amount of oil in the recipe, especially if you're substituting it for butter. You can probably back off by at least one-quarter without messing up the taste or texture.

I don't cook with coconut oil, but it is absolutely the best hair conditioner I've ever found!

How do the recipes call for the butter to be added to the mixes? Cubed and creamed, or slightly softened, or melted?

As coconut oil has a lower melting point than butter, it may work best as a substitute where the recipe calls for melted butter.

You could try freezing your coconut oil before you start, and making sure the bowl is cold (by mixing it on an ice pack, maybe?) Creaming butter and sugar (which is what gives many a cookie its texture) only works when the butter is cold enough not to be melted, but instead give a nice 'gluey' matrix for the sugar to stick to. Freezing the cookie balls before putting them in the oven might also help, too.

GrrlFriday said:

How do the recipes call for the butter to be added to the mixes? Cubed and creamed, or slightly softened, or melted?

As coconut oil has a lower melting point than butter, it may work best as a substitute where the recipe calls for melted butter.

You could try freezing your coconut oil before you start, and making sure the bowl is cold (by mixing it on an ice pack, maybe?) Creaming butter and sugar (which is what gives many a cookie its texture) only works when the butter is cold enough not to be melted, but instead give a nice 'gluey' matrix for the sugar to stick to. Freezing the cookie balls before putting them in the oven might also help, too.

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I'm using it as called for. Freezing, or even refrigerating, supposedly works for pie crust-like applications (I'll get around to trying it, and I'm sure it'd work very well melted for cookie crusts), but it's unworkable for other baked goods if it's too cold. I typically cream it at around 70 degrees and of course I melt it more (usually not all the way) when melted butter or oil is called for.

I do chill the dough well before baking, although I have to flatten the balls by hand right before popping them in the oven or the cookies are too thick.

Hmm...maybe I'll try making it into coconut butter if the reducing-amount-adding water idea doesn't work and I can't get away with adding coconut flour.

One thing it could be is that it's not the amount of coconut oil used but rather the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fat it contains. Coconut seems to be mostly saturated fat whereas butter contains more unsaturated fat. Apparently it's this ratio that is needed for good brownies. You could try substituting some of the coconut oil for something with more unsaturated fat. Not sure what this would be - maybe vegetable oil or something? Let us know how you get along. Good luck.

I do bake with coconut oil, often, and I guess I never noticed a grease issue. I also haven't used it in place of butter, though.

shiny5437 said:

One thing it could be is that it's not the amount of coconut oil used but rather the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fat it contains. Coconut seems to be mostly saturated fat whereas butter contains more unsaturated fat. Apparently it's this ratio that is needed for good brownies. You could try substituting some of the coconut oil for something with more unsaturated fat. Not sure what this would be - maybe vegetable oil or something? Let us know how you get along. Good luck.

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Yes, I suspect it's an issue with the higher saturated fat content.

Brownies work fine with virtually any kind of vegetable oil. I usually use a mix of avocado and coconut without issue. But using 100% coconut oil in a traditional recipe (GF flours behave differently, and many GF recipes have already been adjusted to accommodate the use of more coconut oil) results in crispier brownies with an oil slick on top.

innerMILFsub said:

I do bake with coconut oil, often, and I guess I never noticed a grease issue. I also haven't used it in place of butter, though.

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Do you have some favorite recipes?

I am a total fan of the Science of good cooking by Cook's illustrated so I did a bit more reading. In the chapter on brownies they discuss using mayonnaise or just 1-2 extra egg yolks in place of a bit of oil. The egg yolk contains lecithin which acts as an emulsifier and prevents the oil separating out. Sounds reasonable.

It works really well as lube too j/s

shiny5437 said:

I am a total fan of the Science of good cooking by Cook's illustrated so I did a bit more reading. In the chapter on brownies they discuss using mayonnaise or just 1-2 extra egg yolks in place of a bit of oil. The egg yolk contains lecithin which acts as an emulsifier and prevents the oil separating out. Sounds reasonable.

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I actually use lecithin, but perhaps I'm not using enough. Thanks for the info, and I'll have to check into it more.

daisycarly said:

It works really well as lube too j/s

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That it does! It has a lot of amazing uses, which is probably the main reason I love it so much.