coconut oil in pie crust

[Anonymous]

Someone gave me a jar of coconut oil they were not going to use and I tried it (with half butter) in a pie crust tonight. The crust tastes fine but ended up super hard. I've never used this before and although the jar had never been opened it was pretty hard, almost like wax. It smelled fine (not rancid) but is it just possible it was too old? Had to use very sharp knife to cut pie and the crust was hard like a hard cracker (might make good crackers!) Should I try to soften it before using it in the future?

[Anonymous]

No you should just not use coconut oil in pie crust

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No you should just not use coconut oil in pie crust

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No you should just not use coconut oil in pie crust

I googled before hand and found all these recipe bloggers who use it, along with a cookinglight.com article showing the results of different alternative fats in pastry and said coconut oil is the most like butter except the crust will taste slightly sweet.

[Anonymous]

Coconut oil doesn’t always make a good substitute for other fats. It’s normal for it to be that hard at wintertime room temperature—if your kitchen gets warm in the summer it will start to melt.

Use it to make popcorn in a saucepan, it pops really well and adds a subtle flavor.

[Anonymous]

You wouldn’t want to heat it up at all or it will quickly liquify. If anything chilling it first may produce a better result, but I think the melting point of coconut oil is too low for a decent pastry. That’s why it’s so dense and not tender and flaky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You wouldn’t want to heat it up at all or it will quickly liquify. If anything chilling it first may produce a better result, but I think the melting point of coconut oil is too low for a decent pastry. That’s why it’s so dense and not tender and flaky.

Melting point is too high, I meant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No you should just not use coconut oil in pie crust

I googled before hand and found all these recipe bloggers who use it, along with a cookinglight.com article showing the results of different alternative fats in pastry and said coconut oil is the most like butter except the crust will taste slightly sweet.

Don't trust good bloggers or Cooking Light. Pie crust is supposed yo have fat in it, that's just how pastry works.

[Anonymous]

I fry or scramble eggs in it, but don’t care much for it in baking. I think coconut oil is a lot of hype but not a great product. I don’t like it for skincare either

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the tips. I have never explored alternative fats, flours (like nut flours), and so on.

Also, my pecan-walnut pie came out gross. I tried a non corn syrup recipe (maple syrup instead) and the filling is kind of curdled rather than smooth. Mango pineapple chicken was easy and delicious though!

[Anonymous]

We have some dietary restrictions in my house and I don't trust the bloggers too much. Check out King Arthurs for really solid almond flour recipes if you for some reason need to go that route.