Some people use coconut milk as a substitute for dairy milk, and sometimes this technique falls short of expectations. Some people find the substitution to be rather off when it comes to specific recipes, so some care needs to be exercised when you are considering using coconut milk instead of dairy milk for baking. Here are some tips that may help you avoid the pitfalls that come with this substitution:
Always read the recipe properly to find out what kind of milk is required before doing any substitutions – there will be a clue as to what kind of coconut milk you can use in the place of regular milk. Some recipes call for skim milk, some call for cream, and still a few more may call for heavy cream. These will be your hints as to what kind of coconut milk to use – skim milk can be replaced with diluted coconut milk, cream can be substituted with heavy coconut milk, and thick or heavy cream can be replaced with coconut cream.
Always go 1 is to 1 when replacing your regular milk with coconut milk substitutes – if your recipe tells you that you need a cup of heavy cream, replace this with one cup of coconut cream. One cup of skim milk should be replaced with one cup of diluted or light coconut milk, and so on. The ratio should always be the same since you are actually substituting an ingredient and not reducing or increasing it.
Dilute coconut milk with a bit of water to make it taste less like coconut milk – as mentioned earlier, coconut milk is different in flavor as dairy milk. It has a very coconut vibe about it, and it can throw the flavor of a cake or pastry off if used as is. If your recipe calls for plain milk, you can use diluted coconut milk in order to have that milk-like substance that is not totally coconut flavored.
If you cannot find coconut cream, you can emulsify canned coconut milk for this – one way to create coconut cream when you cannot find any in the grocery store near you is to simply buy a can of full fat coconut milk (or make your own by squeezing the coconut milk from fresh shredded coconut without adding any water) and whip it with either the use of a blender or a mixer set on high.
