Baking with Essential Oils

It's mid winter here in central California and I still have persimmons available. This time of the year the persimmons are getting pretty soft, but this is the best time to put them in the freezer for next year or bake with them right now, I will share with you one of my favorite recipes that I was given by a librarian in my college days many years ago.

I have been learning all about essential oils for 8 years now and have recently been baking with them. So I decided to make one of my all time favorite recipes using essential oils. Besides the normal amount of spices I added the essential oils to enhance the flavor. It's like baking in 3D!

Just a few tips when baking with essential oils. First make sure you are baking with a certified pure therapeutic grade essential oil. All essential oils are not the same. Many of the essential oils in supermarkets are not pure and should not be consumed internally. So know the quality of the essential oils you are using. Personally I use doTERRA. I have been using doTERRA for 8 years for my natural health care needs and absolutely trust the quality and purity.

Probably the next question you are thinking, how many drops?

When baking use 4-8 drops of essential oils and add alongside the other spices specified for the recipe. Baking will evaporate the essential oils so I am using a larger amount for baking than I would for making recipes that aren't cooked or baked.

How do I add essential oils? For baking add the essential oils to a clean spoon for exact amount and then stir into the batter.

When I made this recipe I added 4 drops of doTERRA's Cinnamon and 5 drops of Clove and I added the essential oils to the persimmon pulp just before adding to the recipe. I could also add the essential oils to the liquid in the recipe. Just experiment!

I also substituted dried cranberries for the raisins. The last batch I made I added one cup chocolate chips. I LOVED them!!!

I hope you enjoy this recipe, it has been a keeper for me!