Recipes for desserts made with goat's milk

September 17, 2014 9:29 AM

I am looking for recipes for dessert made with goat's milk. Bakery items preferred, but any ideas welcomed.

My LO, Short Story, cannot tolerate cow's milk, but does just fine with goat's milk. He's getting to an age where he's starting to notice that he doesn't get to have the same desserts as his friends. I would like to treat him (and his friends!) to yummy treats that won't upset his tummy.

I am used to traditional baking with cow's milk and butter. Many of the recipes I've found online include goat's milk to add an unusual, tangy flavor to traditional recipes, but it is only an addition to cow's milk, butter, or cheese (in the case of cheesecake), not a true substitute.

I'd like to start with some regular chocolate chip cookies (I'll substitute milk chocolate for something else), but would like to hear ideas of other cookies or bakery (even savories) that come out yummy using goat's milk products. I guess one disadvantage I have is I am not well-versed in baking chemistry, and don't really understand how to substitute the ingredients in a way that will ensure success (goat's milk products are super expensive so for that reason I haven't done much experimenting on my own).

posted by vignettist to Food & Drink (16 answers total)

You can also get goat butter. It's pure white, very cool. Between goat butter and milk and yogurt you can probably make almost any baked goods. They'll taste a little "goaty" but from my limited experience the recipes will work fine.

Or, there is a whole world of vegan baking out there!
posted by Cygnet at 9:36 AM on September 17, 2014

Chemistry between the two should not be significantly different. I personally replace dairy milk with coconut milk for baking, and honestly you can use water and a smidge of oil for 90% of home kitchen replacements without really knowing the difference. Buttermilk sometimes is used for a chemical reaction, but you can find the formulas for replacing the acid in buttermilk with lemon or vinegar.

If a recipe is looking for butter to provide steam lift, like in puff pastry, I believe goat butter is fine but vegan butter or margarine (stick not tub) is what is usually used. I think it would be awfully goaty in an application like that.

As far as the flavor, anything that is complemented by cream cheese should do great with goat dairy. And as far as I am concerned, all desserts are complemented by cream cheese.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:56 AM on September 17, 2014

I dunno what a LO is, but in case it's of age, you can make a delicious beverage out of goat cream or goat milk, frozen pineapple, and Gosling's. If a LO doesn't like rum, you can leave out the Gosling's and it's almost as good. You can't taste any goat.

Lard is better than butter in biscuits and pie crust.

You could make fudge with goat milk and goat butter. I haven't tried it but do not think it could possibly go wrong because it's fudge. I like the Hershey's recipe (you don't have to use Hershey's cocoa).
posted by Don Pepino at 10:10 AM on September 17, 2014

LO is "little one" - a young child. Maybe the rum will have to wait :)

I forgot to add a link to Fat Toad Farm - the farm is near my parents' house and so I've tried their goods. Delicious. You could use the goat milk caramel to make your LO's treats even more special.
posted by Cygnet at 10:26 AM on September 17, 2014

Is there supposed to be a difference? Seriously, unless I am cooking at someone else's house, I always use goat milk for cooking.

I have made zillions of custard pies with goat milk.

Goat milk tastes much sweeter than most commercial cow milk but I have never found this to make a difference with things that set.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 10:50 AM on September 17, 2014

Cook's Thesaurus says that you can substitute goat's milk for cow's milk 1 for 1 and some quick googling seems to back that up. The differences are primarily in protein content (cow's milk has higher protein); there is some fat variation, but it depends on what breed it comes from.

I've had decent luck using coconut oil instead of butter, but coconut oil has more fat and little to no water, so it will change the properties of the finished baked good somewhat (tenderness, browning, spreading of cookies). You can refrigerate or freeze liquid coconut oil for recipes that require creaming with sugar.
posted by carrioncomfort at 12:05 PM on September 17, 2014

As Cygnet mentions, you can also get goat butter and goat caramel which are both out of this world delicious. I have also seen goat ice cream at my local expensive health food store.

Some people feel like goats are not factory farmed the same way that cows are so they are a "friendlier" animal product for someone who might have some guilt about consuming dairy. This is great news if you have an allergy to cow's milk because their demand means that there are more options for you. The downside is that they're pretty pricy (although I can get a pound of regular goat butter for much less than I'd pay for a pound of organic cow butter) but I feel like oh well, at least it exists! Without it, my life would have no butter.

I have never had any problem substituting goat dairy 1:1 in pastry/cookie/pie recipes written for cow dairy. (1:1 means one cup of goat product perfectly replaces one cup of goat product.)

Also, Spectrum makes a great dairy-free/soy-free shortening product that is nice for baking and less expensive than goat butter. A lot (a lot) of margarines/shortening/etc have whey or other cow's milk products in them or they are manufactured in facilities where cross-contamination might be an issue. (I am also allergic to soy, if you aren't it might be less of an issue for you.) I use this recipe and make AMAZING pie crust with it.
posted by kate blank at 1:45 PM on September 17, 2014

You could copy Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams and make a goat cheese and cherry ice cream that is out-of-this-world delicious. I'm sure you can find comparable recipes online, but Jeni's does sell a cookbook if you want to try that one. I love goat cheese and cherry ice cream, it tastes like a cherry cheesecake.
posted by zoetrope at 2:01 PM on September 17, 2014

Make goat milk caramel sauce and put it on everything. This is amazing: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2014/01/homemade-dulce-de-leche/ It is really easy to make, but it does take a bit of patience. You will be standing and stirring for a long time. You could probably cook it down further and make caramel candies.
posted by ELind at 5:06 PM on September 17, 2014

Yes, yes, caramel sauce. I am travelling and don't have my cajeta recipe with me but just google cajeta. It's amazing and completely worth the long cooking time. If you find a good brownie recipe your child can tolerate, put the cajeta on the brownies.
posted by Stacey at 4:38 AM on September 18, 2014

Crock pot cajeta.

Damn, now I'm going to have to make some.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:15 AM on September 18, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks everyone. It's especially helpful to know that I can substitute the dairy 1:1 without drastically changing the chemistry.

Just need to figure out where I can get goat's milk butter locally (I know it can be ordered online as well).

Or, you know, we'll need to get a goat. (Sidebar: I have a friend who used to raise pygmy goats. Super cute, and she had them socialized so that they were almost like dogs, very friendly and would come when you called their names. They were working goats; she had acres that needed brush clearance and they did a great job. But we're in the city, I don't think we can quite pull it off. Plus, living with goats is smelly.)
posted by vignettist at 8:45 AM on September 19, 2014

Goat milk is easy to find in stores.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 9:52 AM on September 19, 2014

Response by poster: Yep, milk and chevre is readily available. Butter, not so much.
posted by vignettist at 9:29 PM on September 20, 2014

If you have an upscale health food store in your area, I would look there. Are you near a Wegmans grocery store? They also carry it.
posted by kate blank at 9:46 AM on September 22, 2014

Here's another source with online shopping, but goat butter is sold out at the moment, unfortunately.
posted by kate blank at 9:54 AM on September 22, 2014