Recipe Reblog: Chocolate Chip Cookies with Coconut Oil

I have been reading about the benefits of using coconut oil for awhile now and decided it was fate when I saw a jar on clearance at Target last week. Coconut oil comes in solid form and is typically melted for use in baking and cooking. It doesn't really taste like coconut but it imparts a nice flavor to your meals. Even though it has saturated fat, it's much better for you than plain old vegetable oil. According to Dr. Oz, it helps with good cholesterol levels and can help your body use insulin more efficiently. You can even use it to make your hair shiny! It has other benefits too but I can't remember what they are.

Coconut Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies: I wanted to bake some cookies for game night (which sadly got cancelled -- more for me!) I am not a very good baker because I don't do it that often but I thought I'd give it a shot. This recipe swaps the oil for butter. It did not have you melt the oil first and creaming together the white and brown sugar with the hunk of coconut oil took a really long time. Also, I refrigerated the dough to bake off later in the day. When I pulled it out of the fridge, it was rock solid. I'm going to blame the coconut oil on that one too. I let it warm up a bit and ended up hacking off chunks with a knife and forming them into balls.

The suggested baking time was not long enough. I probably ended up at 20 minutes as opposed to the 10-12 listed. However, the cookies were soft and moist and had a good flavor. John said he tasted the coconut but I didn't. I'd like to give it a shot again with another recipe that does have you melt the oil first.

I'm making stir fry tonight and think I'll use the coconut oil for sauteing in that.

And now I'm looking at 2 dozen cookies. Anyone want to come over for milk?