Baking with olive oil can be tricky. Let’s go over the ground rules. Baking is temperamental and precise. I don’t enjoy the process; I find it tedious and restrictive. So many rules, less opportunity for customization. I know there are a lot of chefs/home cooks that would agree with me on that one! Customizing baking recipes is always a gamble– one small adjustment and the entire recipe is thrown off. It’s food science; One must understand the ingredients, their properties, and the role they play in the recipe before swapping out this for that. Let’s talk baking with olive oil! Here are the fundamentals: You can almost always swap oil for oil. Extra virgin olive oil is a fantastic heart-healthy alternative to vegetable or seed oil. Swapping EVOO for another oil will have no effect on the final texture of whatever dish you’re creating UNLESS the oil you intend to replace is Crisco or lard. Since they’re saturated fats and solid at room temperature, it’s not a good swap. Olive oil will perform differently due to density. Only use EVOO...

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