{COOKING}: 10 Tips for Baking with Essential Oils

I use essential oils every single day in my house. From making skin care product, creating organic weed killer, cooking with oils, purifying air in my car, consuming oil products for detoxification, using oils for my pets’ health to producing my own house cleaning products. Pretty much anything you can think of can be made at home by adding essential oils.

Some of my friends even bake or do chocolate with oils! The flavor that essential oils bring to your baked goods are amazing. If you’ve never tried baking or cooking with essential oils, I highly recommend you to try – you’ll love it!

Here are 10 tips on how to incorporate essential oils into your baking
(it’s a bit different from adding oils when cooking):

1. Always keep your essential oils in a dark glass container, away from heat and light and where the conditions are not hot or humid. If you wish, you can also store them in the fridge if necessary but room temperature is good enough.

2. Make sure you purchase a high quality essential oils. Not all oils can be used in baking and/or should be taken internally. Remember, that not all oils are therapeutic grade oils so make sure you do your research and use only oils that are appropriate for baking. Send me a note to learn where I purchase mine.

3. Try to always use a glass or ceramic bowl when mixing your ingredients that contain essential oils. If you use plastic, the essential oil will absorb into the plastic and ruin it.

4. Don’t ever leave the cap off the bottle. They will oxidize quickly!

5. Essential Oils have a much longer shelf-life than dried herbs or spices so while oils may be more costly in the initial stages, over the long haul, they will prove to be more cost-effective. Remember, essential oils are very concentrated and so, in most cases you will need only 1-3 drops per recipe (for example, I use only pure essential oils so one drop of essential oil Peppermint is equal to 26-28 cups of herbal tea).

6. Because all oils tend to have different viscosity levels, don’t drop the oil directly into your mixture. Drop the required amount on a spoon and then into your mixture to ensure you have the proper amount.

7. A little goes along way. Add one drop, stir and taste. Repeat until you’ve reached your desired result.

8. Try to avoid touching the insert with your fingers as your body chemistry may affect the oil composition.

9. If you are baking with your kids, be sure to keep the oils out of reach. Essential oils are highly concentrated and should always be used with caution.

10. Some of the most often used oils when baking: Lemon, Peppermint, Lavender, Orange, Clove, Cinnamon & Lime.

Here is a simple recipe for you to try:

Sugar-Free & Gluten-Free Blueberry Lemon Muffins

Product:

2 cups gluten-free all purpose organic flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
1 tblsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 drops of Lemon essential oil (again, make sure that the oils that you use can be taken internally)
1 egg
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup of melted butter
1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries

How to prepare: Mix flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Beat one egg in a medium bowl, add milk, butter, brown rice syrup, essential oil and blend all together. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients. Fold in blueberries. Fill lined muffin tins 2/3 full and bake for 20 min at 375 degrees. Makes 12 muffins. Enjoy!!!!

Please share with me your favorite baking recipe (or 2) in the comment below.

Happy baking!
Olga