We’re all trying to be healthy here these days, right? That means lots of weird health foodie ingredients. My freezer door is filled with little sealed bags of various types of flours – oh, yes everything from oat flour to spelt and back to good old buckwheat. I’ve also got a multitude of choices in fats. Cooking oils and shortenings to be exact. One of my faves is coconut oil. Even though it’s not really good to use with everything, I still find new and somewhat weird things to do with it (my Mom puts it in her tea…yuck). I have a problem though. In my house, most of the year (that would be the 9 hot months here in FL) the thermostat is set at 78-79 degrees….yes, I have have high ceilings and many fans. It’s quite comfy – especially when the power bill arrives. Coconut oil does not find this as pleasant as I do. In fact it’s a liquid oil at that temp. See, this is what it looks like in the cabinet.
And, no, I can’t just use it like that. Then I put it in the fridge and it becomes so hard I can’t use it. You can’t even chisel it out of the jar. So, I have to plan hours and even the night before to use it so I can set the huge jar out to slowly become useable. I’ve think I’ve demonstrated before, I am not a patient woman. So I got to thinking. It’s too bad it doesn’t come in sticks like butter or shortening…wait, maybe it can!?
Need to find a mold:
Most of the time I’m pretty frugal, but I confess to splurging on those silly shortening sticks. Yes, the huge can is cheaper, but by the time I use it all, it smells old. The little cans are almost as much as the sticks, so ok, I admit it – I like ’em. They have a handy little recyclable plastic box to store them in (I love that too) if you only need a half stick or so. Perfect – I want a cup of coconut oil in a stick that I can ‘warm’ faster than the giant jar! Yay!
Fill the mold:
So, I marked the 1/2 cup mark and lined the ‘mold’ with plastic wrap. (Note to self: next time mark the plastic liner and line up with the marks on the mold)
Then I filled the mold. I’d sat the jar out the evening before so it was still at about 70 deg or so, which made it just a bit more loose than shortening, and easy to scoop. Then I put it’s little plastic lid on and popped it in the fridge.
There, now I have refrigerated coconut oil in a more manageable and pre-measured stick. If I need a half cup, a warm knife slices it so easy. And since it’s a smaller volume, it warms so much quicker.
Ugh, why didn’t I think of this before?!
( I’m sure my cold-weather friends are laughing “We don’t have that problem up here…” ok, ok )
Michelle
Oh no! My coconut oil is in the pantry all kind of half liquid and half solid. It’s been like that for about two years! And I still use it. (Obviously not often or I wouldn’t still have it after two years) Now I’m scared that I’m going to make someone sick.
I don’t hink you’re going to necessarily make anyone ‘sick’, certainly give it ‘the smell test’. If you’re making a recipe, using the oily version changes the texture of the batter. I haven’t tested it, but it stands to reason that it would measure differently as well. Think about how cookies made with Crisco/butter are different than using oil. It’s still a fat, but the whole ‘creaming’ process loses it’s effect with a warm oil. (of course few things are better than buttah!)
I just learned about coconut oil and how well it would do at my house!
It’s good stuff – but expensive! Buy it at your warehouse club, and stick to the unrefined version that has a light coconut taste. It’s often organic, and whenever they ‘refine’ something it’s usually not a good thing. Besides, I don’t mind a little coconut flavor in a baked good – fried eggs, not so much. 😉