Baking a Better Holiday: a Primer On Baking w/ Olive Oil – Part 2

Posted on December 23, 2011

Like wine, different extra virgin olive oils deliver different flavor profiles, including when you use the oil in baking a cake or cookie. Olive oil can make other contributions to baked goods, too, such as helping ensure a dish is moist.

Photo courtesy of www.artisanbreadinfive.com

To assist you with your holiday baking and cooking, we’ve asked baking experts for tips on using olive oil with baked goods and desserts (you can click here to see an earlier blog post about how to substitute olive oil for butter in baking).

Below is a Q&A:

How should you approach pairing a dessert or baked good with a particular olive oil flavor profile?

Fran Costigan, vegan pastry chef: “Olive oil can be considered a flavoring agent for a dessert when you want to use the oil that way. … Think about what it is your making. A robust oil (like Arbosana) can go with some chocolate desserts, such as: a tartine, which is simply warmed melty chocolate on a crusty baguette, or an olive oil ganache spread on the bread, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with coarse sea salt. … When I want to taste the olive oil, I’ll go to an oil such as Arbequina, Arbosana, or Miller’s Blend.”

Matthew Kadey, registered dietitian and recipe developer: “I would use a more delicate flavored oil if you are just using the olive oil to add moisture to a baked item and don’t want its flavor to come through. But for items like dinner rolls that can benefit from olive oil’s flavor, I would gravitate towards a stronger flavored choice.”

Are there any particular desserts and dishes that go especially well with extra virgin olive oil?

Costigan: “It’s very nice in most all chocolate confections. I particularly like lemon scented chocolate olive oil sauces and creams. … Olive oil and almonds are great together, like my orange almond olive oil cake. For something different, drizzle a robust oil on the chestnut cake known as castagnaccio.” (The recipes for both of these cakes are featured in the recipe section of our website under desserts.)

Jeff Hertzberg, best-selling author of the new book, Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day (St. Martin’s Press, 2011): “I always drizzle it on top of pizza.”

What does extra virgin olive oil contribute to baked goods – flavor, texture, etc.?

Sarah House, recipe specialist for Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods: “Extra virgin olive oil produces light and moist baked goods with rich olive oil background notes while letting the accompanying flavors shine through.  There are all the nutritional benefits of olive oil — like very low saturated fat — and it helps extend the shelf life of the product.  Olive oil is an excellent fat for (my spelt cake with caramelized apples) to lighten the otherwise dense and heavy whole grain flours.” (Click here to see the recipe for the olive oil spelt cake.)

Kadey: “I find that it adds a nice earthy, peppery flavor to baked items. It’s an especially good addition to baked goods that you would consider more savory than sweet.

Bon appétit,

Your friends at California Olive Ranch

Follow us on Twitter: MemphisFoodGuy

Holiday Baking Recipes using Olive Oil

Baking a Better Holiday: A Trove of Baking Recipes Using Olive Oil – No Butter!

Posted on December 6, 2011

We challenged some talented food bloggers to create baking recipes using our extra virgin olive oil and flour from our friends at Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods. We were blown away by the high-quality recipes they delivered — everything from almond cranberry chocolate chip quick bread to a spicy and moist gingerbread cake just in time for the holidays.

The recipes, which we’ll be featuring here, are part of our “Baking a Better Holiday” focus this month on using extra virgin olive oil instead of butter in baking.  (Click here to see a table for how to substitute olive oil for butter.) A good extra virgin olive oil delivers wonderful flavor in baked goods and helps ensure they are light and moist. (Click here to see more recipes and baking tips in our December eNewsletter.)

Below is our first batch of blogger recipes. Stay tuned for more later this month, including gluten-free recipes. In the meantime, cruise over to our Facebook page where you can win great prizes by posting your ideas for combining our oil with a fine product from Bob’s Red Mill.

Spicy and Moist Gingerbread Cake“Full of the flavors of the holidays, this gingerbread will bring back memories of your childhood delights,” Jane Evans Bonacci, the talent behind the excellent blog The Heritage Cook, says. She says don’t be intimidated with all the spices in the recipe. “They balance well against the molasses, ginger and olive oil.” Bonacci also says the cake “improves with time. So make it a day or two in advance if you like.” (Click here to see the recipe.)

Almond Cranberry Chocolate Chip Quick Bread“Using almond flour in quick breads provides flavor, but more importantly, a supportive crumb structure,” Marnely Rodriguez , who writes the great blog Cooking with Books, says. “Living in New England, fresh cranberries were an obvious addition to cut the sweet buttery taste and add some tartness.” That buttery taste, by the way, comes from her use of our Artois Ranch Mild & Buttery extra virgin olive oil. We’re confident you can also get great results using our Arbequina or Everyday oils, too. (Click here to see the recipe.)

Iced Sweet Potato and Orange-Spice Loaf

“When I was deciding on a recipe, I knew I wanted to use sweet potatoes and orange zest  to make a loaf cake that was flavorful without being too greasy, too crumbly or too dry,” Lori Twitchell writes in her beautiful blog, Lemons and Lavender. She perfected this loaf, featured in the photo at the top of the blog, after four versions. Twitchell says the cake has gotten two thumbs up from “very discriminating taste testers.” We’re not surprised. “I’ve created something that has the indulgence of a holiday sweet loaf but with a healthier twist,” she adds. (Click here to see the recipe.)

Olive Oil Walnut BrowniesDeeba Rajpal, the creative force behind the gorgeous blog Passionate About Baking, whipped up these brownies after sampling them at a New Delhi hotel. She asked the chef for the recipe and promptly went home to bake them herself, making some changes and overcoming a power outage that knocked her oven out of commission temporarily. “The texture was fabulous,” she writes. “BIG HIT with the kids too.” (Click here to see the recipe for olive oil walnut brownies.)

Bon appétit,

Your friends at California Olive Ranch

Follow us on Twitter: MemphisFoodGuy