I’ve been having a lot of fun experimenting with superfoods and raw foods lately, especially raw cacao powder and raw coconut products like coconut butter/oil, coconut water, coconut milk, and coconut flour. Yum! I never knew I liked coconut so much until I started trying raw desserts here in NYC. Many raw and vegan desserts use coconut oil/butter and coconut flours in place of processed foods and animal products. All I have to say is, don’t knock it until you try it. High quality raw ingredients make some of the most decadent and delicious desserts ever!
Raw coconut flour is made from unheated, dried coconut that is ground into a fine flour. You can use it in gluten-free recipes, and it’s is also great substitute flour for people with Diabetes (coconut flour has a low glycemic index).
There are tons of uses for coconut flour, and you can find some simple yet delicious recipes out there if you do some Google searching. Here’s a raw chocolate brownie recipe I tried out: Hip Goddess Raw Brownies. I added a 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract for more flavor, and chopped up raw cashews to sprinkle on the top. Mmmmm…fudge!
You can also add coconut flour to smoothies or shakes as a thickener and protein supplement.
If you want to experiment with baking or cooking coconut flour with heat, check out Mark’s Daily Apple. He has some tasty ideas for coconut bread, coconut pancakes, and coconut crusted chicken or shrimp. Yum! Note: If you plan to experiment with coconut flour substitutions in some of your favorite recipes, just make sure to increase the liquid content. When you use coconut flour, you need the equivalent of 4 eggs per 1 cup of coconut flour.
Here’s a picture of the raw organic coconut flour I bought. It’s a pretty cream color and smells amazing. If you can’t find it at your local health food store, you can always order it online.
