Friends, I am EXCITED!
As I mentioned in my last post, I recently – for the first time ever! – baked with coconut flour. And I am officially, completely, utterly and hopelessly enamored with it. Allow me to elaborate.
Coconut flour is made from coconut meat that has most of the oil taken out. It’s dried up and then finely ground into a soft powder. Simple! The result is a flour with a beautiful creamy color and natural sweetness. Open a bag and take a whiff – you will inhale coconut deliciousness!
But that’s not the best part. Because coconut flour is made from just coconut, that means it’s also gluten-free and grain-free! Amazing for anyone dealing with such intolerances. Coconut flour is also a fiber-istic superstar – it has more fiber than wheat bran, oat bran, soybeans – even flax seeds! And just as much protein as you can find in the traditional whole wheat flour that everyone knows so well.
Are you jazzed yet?
I am.
So how can we use it in our baked goodies?! Well, this part requires a bit of attention. Because coconut flour doesn’t have gluten – which helps keep it all together – your treats will just fall apart if you substitute it 100% for another flour. Now, keep in mind I’m a newbie here, but from some quite extensive Googling, it seems you can replace about 20% of regular flour in a recipe with coconut flour – as long as you add an equal amount of liquid. All the fiber sucks that stuff up! So, let’s say your recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour. You can use 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup coconut flour and add 1/2 cup milk or water or juice. If you want to use ALL coconut flour – which I totally do! – I’ve read that you should add one egg per ounce of coconut flour. Eggs bind – just like gluten! I really want to try a vegan ALL coconut flour recipe, so I’m thinking bananas or flax eggs could work too. What do you think? Oh, and because coconut flour is already a bit sweet, you don’t need as much sugar in your recipe!
Whew! I swear it’s not all that complicated. It’s just baking after all! Get out there and experiment – and let me know how it goes!
Do you have any great coconut flour recipes?
sweet + natural 
I have total faith that you’ll devise a way make this happen – and I will be ready on my end to try it out! I’ll have to go search Lifethyme 🙂
PS. welcome back!
Love the new header, sis.
Also love the smell of coconut flour. Mmmmm….
I’ve never used this – this sounds great!
You might want to check out Elana’s Pantry, she did a lot of the experimenting for you it seems.
Here is an example,
http://www.elanaspantry.com/chocolate-cake-coconut-flour-continued/
she has many recipes with primarily or all coconut flour and those are the recipes that seem to have the most eggs so I suppose she uses those to bind.
p.s. I am glad to have you posting regularly again, love your recipes 🙂
Kelly Michelle – I’ve seen her site! I actually got the chocolate cupcake recipe I just made from there. Good stuff.
Since I’m a lover of all things coconut, I know I’m going to have to pick up coconut flour one of these days. I’m sure it makes for some delicious baked goods.
I admit to shying away from using coconut flour in recipes, but you’ve sold me :). I’m looking forward to baking with it now!
I just came across coconut flour in the store this week and picked up a bag. Good to know you can’t just sub one-to-one. Very interesting how you need to add liquid! Keep experimenting and let us know how it goes 🙂
Wow, coconut flour sounds amazing! I’d love to try baking with it—gives baked goods a subtle, rich coconut flavor? Can’t wait to read about your experiments with it!
How exciting!! I have seen it lately and definitely want to give it a try. I’m totally feeling your excitement about this. I just found your blog and will have to come back often. I’m unemployed right now and really need to start baking more…because, why not? hehe =)
Aaaand I just realized your name is Ashley as well 😉
Just stumbled across your blog from a comment you left on KathEats — absolutely gorgeous photography! And absolutely delicoius looking treats, too…obviously 🙂
I love your new header!!
Thanks for the info on coconut flour!! I am going to use it!
I actually saw the stuff the other day when I was shopping, but skipped over ti figuring I’d have no use for it. Now I want to go back and try those cupcakes!! Do you have any suggestions for what to do with coconut oil? I bought a jar on a whim and am sort of stumped…
I’ve actually substituted coconut flour in one of your recipes before, to make it gluten-free for my mom. It was the banana cornbread. I had to just experiment with amounts,but I ended up just decreasing the amount of flour called for and adding an egg and some melted coconut oil. There are some good recipes on elanaspantry.com that use coconut flour as well. Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
that is really cool info…thanks! Id love to try out coconut flour. Its something I havent really worked with yet but I love anything with coconut in it. When baking does it add a coconut flavor to baked goods? or more neutral? Id love to see what awesome stuff you make with it!
Chrysta – Well, I’ve only baked with coconut flour once so far, but there wasn’t a strong coconut flavor in the chocolate cupcakes I made. That could be b/c the cocoa balanced it out? As I keep experimenting, I’ll let you know!
I just made a fresh batch of coconut milk this morning and have coconut cookies (made with the pulp) in my dehydrator. There is nothing this amazing food can’t do!
Hi! Where did you buy the coconut flour?
Great site and nice recipes!
JAGW – Thank you! I got the coconut flour at Whole Foods.
What other uses of coconut? Apart from eating. What food substance does coconut has?
i love cocanuts they are amazing do you like them ?
I don’t where your at with your coconut flour experiments, but I’m sure that delicious vegan recipes with 100% coconut flour can be done. Simply look for vegan and gluten-free recipes and substitute the GF flour by the coconut flour. If the gluten-free flour mix the recipe uses contains Xantan gum or guar gum, add some seperately to your coconut flour. Those two type of gums help to mimic the texture of baked goods made with regular wheat flour.
“So, let’s say your recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour. You can use 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup coconut flour and add 1/2 cup milk or water or juice. If you want to use ALL coconut flour – which I totally do! – I’ve read that you should add one egg per ounce of coconut flour. Eggs bind – just like gluten!”
I’m an amateur baker so I need help figuring out the exact amounts for substitutions. So if I were to substitute ALL coconut flour in a recipe that calls for 2 cups all purpose flour, how much coconut flour and how many eggs would that be? hoping someone can help me..