How Olive Oil Can Enhance Your Next Dessert

Good-quality olive oil can elevate the flavor of seemingly countless recipes. And while it's great in classics like salad dressings and pasta sauces, creative cooks think further outside the box and incorporate ingredients like olive oil in recipes where you'd least expect them. There are so many uses for olive oil beyond salad dressing ... including desserts.

Olive oil can be used as a substitute for butter or another vegetable oil in many dessert recipes, though some treats need the more solid fat to maintain structure, so make this swap thoughtfully. When used, olive oil imparts much of the same richness as butter while bringing in a unique flavor and additional moisture. When you substitute olive oil for butter or another vegetable oil, know that olive oil loses some of its strong flavor when baked. However, you may still detect a hint of olive oil in your baked food, depending on the variety. Light olive oils have less distinct flavor compared to a less-refined and more assertive extra virgin olive oil.

A good rule of thumb when choosing an olive oil to bake with is to pick one you would use to finish a dish. This would be the oil you reach for when you want to dunk a crusty piece of Italian bread. In short, dessert-making is not the time to opt for a low-price, low-quality supermarket olive oil.

Olive oil cannot be used in all dessert recipes, but certain desserts work especially well when made with olive oil. Baked goods with apples, figs, or even chocolate can be balanced out by the fruity notes in some olive oil varieties. Lemon cakes brighten with the complementary citrusy flavors found in good-quality extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO).

A good source for purchasing high-quality olive oil could be as close as your local Italian restaurant. A locally-owned restaurant may have some for sale or be willing to order it for you from their supplier. If you can't get good olive oil there, you can always purchase it online like the highly-rated ATLAS variety.

Olive oil has myriad applications beyond the dessert table, too, from fat-washing cocktails in order to bring out their flavor and aroma to topping ice cream. With the right ingredients and recipes, using olive oil in your desserts could become your new habit.