Coconut flour

The best coconut flour for baking etc is from Aman Prana, it's also the coconut flour lowest in carbs, others are rather high an alternative is to use ground almond.

Hi Ricky, there are lots of cake recipes made with coconut flour in the Low Carb Recipes section, hope you find some you like

Ricky said:

At long last I have found a kg bag on Natcho Coconut flour at a very reasonably price from a Chinese/Asian supermarket. It just tastes like finely ground desicated coconut and unfortunately still has the texture (bittiness) of desiccated coconut. First thing I have found out is that it doesn't thicken . I was making a chicken stew with Tom Yum paste and put some in. Being a Thai sauce the coconut flavour was fine with it.

I thought it tasted very sweet (only other ingredient is sulphur dioxide to preserve it) but presume the carb value is OK.

Can someone send me cake recipes using it. I do not have a sweet tooth and the only sweetener I will use is xylitol (I use it when I make cocoa) .

Thanks

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Hi, for cooking try unsweetened coconut butter (not oil). You can make it from cheap coconut flakes (99p for 100g in Holland and Barrett) in a 'whizzer'. I made some on Wednesday as the fat and hardener for chocolate. Use unsweetened flakes, rather than dessicated or fresh coconut, and whizz it for 5-10 mins max. and you will have a nice coconut butter which should thicken your sauce with a coconut flavour. You can also use it as a spread etc.

NB DO NOT TRY TO USE A BLENDER/SMOOTHIE MAKER. They're too powerful. The best is a hand blender with a container and blade (e.g. Philips etc.)

Ricky said:

I use those dead cheap solid blocks of coconut from the Asian shops which are like solid lumps and you mix with water to get coconut cream or coconut milk. I often put some in a stew for a creamy texture and flavour. They are 100% coconut - but do check the ingredients as some are not!!

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You can also buy the butter (not the same as blocks) but it's expensive ... at least £5 for 200g, whereas you can make it yourself and keep in a jar.

I buy coconut flour for about £4 per Kg - TRS coconut powder. It's a fine flour, not fine dessicated.

My recipe for an basic unsweetened cake is:

I sieve nut flour together & use them as flour to make in effect a smooth sponge cake - cake-bread - but without sugar.

Approx recipe:
150 g (4 oz) mixed nut flour - ground almonds & coconut flour
1 1/2 teasp baking powder
1/3 teasp xanthan gum (optional, but strengthens the final texture)
1 teasp cinnamon (good for blood glucose control )
Sieve together & add the residue

50 ml olive oil
50 g butter (melted into the oil)
4-5 eggs
beat together & add to the nut flour
beat well should be dropping consistency - add another egg if its too thick

Spread out in a 250 mm (9 inch) silicone baking dish (I use silicone so there's no sticking)
Bake at 170 deg C for 15-20 minutes.

Result is a sponge cake that I use instead of bread/potato/rice/pasta.
If I want sweet cake, I add sultanas and/or sweetener, cocoa powder, ripe banana, ad lib.

Warning - it doesn't keep well - use in 2-3 days.

A basis for a nourishing drink is 2-3 teasp each ground almond & coconut, mix with cup soup, drinking choc, coffee, tea (fruit tea) made up with boiling water or milk. Stir before you finish as it settles. It provides about 200 kcals - as much as a cereal b'fast, without the unhealthy refined carbs.

The same sort of mix is the basis for a "porridge" which I have every day. It is much more sustaining than cereal, providing similar calories in the form of slow-digesting healthy fats & proteins.

I have found quite a few coconut flour recipes here: http://www.tiana-coconut.com/coconut_flour_recipes.htm and here: http://www.coconutflourrecipes.org/. They're not necessarily sugar-free. Coconut flour shouldn't be 'bitty', it should be completely smooth (otherwise it's probably just finely dessicated). I have found reasonably priced flour on Amazon.

Hi, If you have any Asian (Indian/Pakistani) shops near to you, you will find that they sell coconut powder/flour very much cheaper

Ricky said:

Yuck Yuck Yuck- just went to the cake I made 2 days ago and it had gone disgusting. It tasted foul. Could it have gone off in 2 days. Anyone experienced at this?

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Yes - Sorry - I make mine 3 times a week. Without the sugar things do go mouldy. I've added a warning to the recipe on p.1.

As I use for all sorts of things, it doesn't have time to go off.

ricky, I keep it in the fridge and then put into freezer in portion sizes, freezes very well

Ricky, there are loads of fab recipes on the Low Carb Recipes section, if you like coconut then a must is WhitbyJet's Soft Coconut Cake. Also the Lemon Cake in the Food, Nutrition and Recipes section posted by Andy12345 on July 28th on page 26. Also try the Carrot Cake, all freeze very well and then you can just take a slice out at a time