Replacing the Butter with Olive Oil when Baking
Muffins and other baked goods can be made with more healthful olive oil instead of butter.
This holiday season, your goal to keep a healthful diet and lifestyle might be forgotten easily when the temptation from cookies and cakes wields more power than the call of your treadmill.
But you can have your cake and eat it too, said Lisa A. Sheldon, a nutritionist and cookbook author whose new cookbook, "Olive Oil Baking" (Cumberland House, 2007), showcases olive oil as a substitute fat for butter and less healthful oils in baking recipes.
"I don't want people to get the impression I'm a dietary saint," Sheldon said. "It's about everything in moderation." Her book includes more than 120 recipes, including cookies, cakes and breakfast treats, all containing olive oil -- some with additional healthful substitutions or additions as well, such as whole-wheat pastry flour in morning glory muffins and wheat germ in chocolate chip cookies.
Unlike butter, olive oil is a monounsaturated -- or "good" -- fat with benefits that include a reduced risk of heart disease, breast cancer and osteoporosis. Olive oil also increases the body's good HDL cholesterol levels. Perhaps that's why Mediterranean cultures have been following olive oil baking principles for centuries. While the diets in Greece and Italy consist of significantly more fat than recommended by the American Heart Association, most of their fat is from olive oil.
Olive oil, a liquid, has a more pronounced flavor than butter, a solid, but Sheldon said the taste and texture isn't compromised by making the substitution. It actually enhances the flavors of some, she said, such as fruit bars.
"The fragrant quality of the oil so nicely complements what's going on with the fruit," she said.
Other recipes get around olive oil's liquidity with added egg or flour. Olive oil can fill in for butter everywhere except pie crusts and biscuits, Sheldon said. Their flaky textures evolve from steam pockets released by the water present in butter, which evaporates during baking.
Work slowly when adapting traditional recipes
Advice for adapting your recipes, from author Lisa A. Sheldon:
• Don't overhaul a recipe at once. Instead, make one or two ingredient changes at a time.
• If a recipe calls for more than ½ cup butter, start by replacing only half of the butter with olive oil.
• Cookies made with olive oil will take longer to bake and appear lighter in color.
• Experiment only when not under pressure. Don't try a revamped recipe the night of a dinner party.
• Store your olive oil in a closed, dark cabinet. This will keep it at a consistent temperature.
Raspberry Oat Bars
For the bar:
• ½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• ½ cup sliced almonds
For the filling:
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, allow to thaw slightly)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and coat a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine the oats, flours, salt and baking powder. Make a well in the center. In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, olive oil, water, and vanilla and almond extracts. Whisk until blended.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until well-mixed. Reserve 1½ cups of this mixture for the topping. Press the remaining mixture into the prepared pan.
Mix reserved crust and sliced almonds. Set aside.
In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch and raspberries. Evenly distribute the berry mixture over the crust. Sprinkle reserved crust and almond mixture over the berries.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned. The bars will look slightly less than done but will firm up as they cool.
Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack. Once completely cool, cut into bars.
Yield: 36 to 48 bars.
A discerning bunch is blindsided by the change. When Lisa A. Sheldon adapted the classic Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe, replacing half of the butter with olive oil and much of the flour with whole-wheat flour, we were skeptical that some real cookie connoisseurs -- the reporters, editors, designers and photographers at The Record -- would appreciate the healthful change.
We were wrong. Twenty-four staffers blindly tasted the cookies side by side, with 15 -- or 63 percent -- preferring the olive oil version. Testers praised the cookie's plumpness, its heft, and a real depth of flavor. "That's a serious cookie," one said. None suspected whole-wheat flour or wheat germ.
-- Bill Pitcher
Lisa's Chocolate Chip Cookies
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
• 2 tablespoons wheat germ
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 to 1½ cups chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, combine the flours, wheat germ, baking soda and salt, and set aside.
In another bowl, using a hand-held mixer, beat together the softened butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Add the olive oil, vanilla and eggs, and beat until light and fluffy.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until combined. Then stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Bake 12 to 14 minutes, or until slightly brown at the edges. Do not overbake. Allow to cool on the sheet for 2 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Yield: 3 dozen cookies.
Morning Glory Muffins
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon cloves
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1¼ cups granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup peeled, finely grated carrots
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated
• ½ cup raisins or currants
• ½ cup shredded, sweetened coconut
• ½ cup walnuts or pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
In a small bowl, combine flours, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Mix well.
In a large bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.
Fill muffin cups three-fourths of the way and bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Serve warm. Store leftovers in an airtight container or freeze for up to 1 month.
Yield: 24 muffins.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
By JULIA CAMERON
STAFF WRITER
PETER MONSEES / THE RECORD
From: "Olive Oil Baking," by Lisa A. Sheldon (Cumberland House, 2007).
