I also like to use coconut oil, especially in sweeter breads like cinnamon raisin, or even a zucchini or banana bread. The coconut flavor is really subtle - you don't taste coconut, but you do notice a difference in the depth of flavor. Delicious!

Olive oil may be healthy, but it's not so great to use for baking as it has a much lower smoke point than butter or coconut oil, especially if it's the cold-pressed, extra-virgin type (which it should be - the oil refining process is NASTY).

While butter is a saturated fat (as are coconut oil and lard), olive oil and other liquid oils are mostly unsaturated, meaning their nutrients are easily damaged by heat. You really shouldn't heat olive oil for anything other than light sauteing.

However, did you know that if you combine the olive oil with a saturated fat - substituting it for only half the butter in a recipe, for example - the sat. fat "protects" the fragile oil at higher heat? True story!

But I digress. I always use coconut oil for baking, as was mentioned.

There is absolutely nothing unhealthy about butter. Saturated fats have never actually been shown to cause heart disease - in fact the studies that tried to demonstrate a direct connection have either failed or showed the opposite effect. The idea that saturated fats cause heart disease are based on observational studies from ages ago where populations with greater saturated fat increase showed more heart disease... in 7 out of 22 countries studied.

In actuality, the polyunsaturated fats in olive oil can break down at high temperatures into free radicals, so if you are going to be baking above olive oil's smoke point I would hold off. Canola oil is even worse...

I will second coconut oil as fantastic. It has a wonderful flavor, and the medium chain saturated fatty acids have been shown to activate the metabolism, and the fact that it is over 90% saturated fat makes it incredibly heat stable.

It seems to me that olive oil would make most sweet baked goods taste kinda funny unless you used the extra-light kind. I sometimes use a combo of equal parts grapeseed oil and butter though and that has worked well.

I used olive oil in a cake once. The cake ended up tasting burned even though it wasn't. I later realized it was a result of the lower smoke point of olive oil. Never again.

I've used blood orange infused olive oil in brownies. I was worried about using olive oil in baking, but I didn't have any issues. The brownies turned out delicious.

How funny, I hadn't even seen this post but I just made a comment in the pine nuts post above about an olive oil cake recipe I found on Epicurious.com. It's actually very tasty, and super super easy and fast to make. It calls for pine nuts and lemon zest, but I sub walnuts (cheaper, and in my opinion tastier) and orange zest (the cake's not that sweet so I prefer the milder orange to the tarter lemon).

I'm with scotchncoffee on this one. If you're looking for *healthier*, then the grains (wheat in particular) and sugar are the ingredients to target, not the butter.

I know I sound like a killjoy, but we're culturally addicted to our baked goods, and that's a large part of what's making Americans unhealthy.

I do not love the flavor of olive oil in sweet foods, although it complements savory ones (but bacon grease is better.) I use refined almond oil for high-heat cooking (over 300F) -- sometimes adding just a spoonful or two of cold-pressed oil for more almond flavor.

I agree w/ scotchncoffee. maybe just have one crumb-topped muffin instead of 3.

Actually, if we are talking about healthy baking, it may be worth mentioning good replacements for the refined sugars and wheat. I have seen some amazing looking (food porn) using some bananas instead of sugar, and coconut flour along with an increased egg count to make a banana bread.

So I would recommend looking into using maple syrup, unpasteurized honey, stevia (not crystals), or palm syrup over sugar, agave "nectar", etc. As well as looking into coconut flour, tapioca flour, and maybe arrowroot flour.

Okay here goes with my two cents. Extra virgin olive oil should never be used to bake or sauté for longer than a minute. The high heat imparts a bitter taste. It took me a long time to figure this out after wondering why my food would have that taste. It's not something that everybody notices, but I did. Now I buy regular olive oil to cook and the bitter taste is gone. One brand of olive oil actually lists on the bottle ‘good for sautéing and grilling.’ I have a bottle of both, extra virgin and regular, in my pantry

okay, now I'm confused
in Portugal they tell us all the time that if you "have to" use any grease then use olive oil

I always use olive oil & only buy butter when I have guests or have to bake something specific (and non of other liquid oils)

I read the comments and searched for an answer and am still confused, there are both opinions and I still didn't get to a site I feel I can rely on

---> please help AT & AT commenters! <---

p.s. here, doctors talk about butter as if it is evil itself

When I think of what I'd pay for 1/4c. of butter vs. 1/4 of olive oil, I think I'll just stick with butter (no pun intended)

I have nothing against butter, but I rarely have it in the house, so baking with olive oil (or other types of vegetable oil) is pretty common for me. So far, I haven't had any problems, but I've mainly stuck with quickbreads and muffins. I don't know if I'd try, say, pastry with oil.

@sandra: basically, way back in the day some doctors wanted to prove that saturated fats cause heart disease by raising cholesterol, and used selective observational studies to show correlation in some very specific cases. The hypothesis was then adopted by the American Heart Association and the media overhyped it until it became dogma that eating saturated fats will give you heart disease. A decent summary of the controversy can be found here:

http://www.smart-heart-living.com/lipid-hypothesis.html

I've recently started cooking using avocado oil. It can be expensive but its very good for you, has a high smoke point, and i find the flavour meshes well with almost everything I've tried it with both sweet & savoury dishes. It's sort of nutty, and does taste a bit like an avocado (hi, my name is captain obvious)

It is a myth that extra virgin olive oil always has a low smoke point. Extra virgin olive oil is a completely natural product and, as such, its smoke point (determined by its acidity level) varies widely brand to brand. A fresh EVOO with low acidity will have a smoke up as high as 425.

For use in baking, I recommend an extra virgin olive oil with mild flavor. An EVOO's flavor is largely determined by the olive cultivar and harvest time -- not unlike grapes and wine. A late harvest extra virgin olive oil will have a smoother flavor than an early harvest olive oil.

I totally agree with Caroline's comments. Many myths about olive oil continue to be perpetuated and it's a shame. I have become educated and I now buy fresh olive oil that I can taste before I buy (not the bottles from the grocery store) and I frequently use it to bake. My local fresh olive oil purveyor has an olive oil with a natural butter flavor that is fabulous in banana bread, pancakes, waffles, etc. Other olive oils are great as well. Don't get me wrong--I love butter, but I have now fallen in love with olive oil!

I know I am a little late to this conversation, but maybe this link will be useful for future readers: http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/50/Smoke-Points-of-Various-Fats . As you can see, different types of olive oil have different smoke points.