Between playing with my sourdough starter, making lots of fizzy bubbles with my water kefir and experimenting with all the cool things you can make with coconut flour, I’ve been incredibly adventurous in the kitchen lately. Who needs bungee jumping or sky diving when you can get adventurous with bubbles and coconut flour? Oh, I’m so wild and crazy – just try and keep up with me.
(Hey, did you fall asleep already? Wake up. The post just started. I’m not that boring. Really, I’m adventurous. Just wait until you hear about the mayonnaise experiments I’m gonna write about next week.)
It’s one of my newest loves, coconut flour. Coconut flour is the fiber taken from the coconut meat after coconut oil is extracted from the coconut. How cool are these people to use the whole coconut! It’s hearty, it tastes incredible and it’s full of many nutrients that our bodies need. Since I tend to almost always bake with whole wheat flour – baking with coconut flour offers our family a nice variety and change of pace. Change is good. Our bodies like and need variety.
Coconut flour is also gluten free. Gluten free or not, I encourage you to try coconut flour as a new source of nutrition!
Why Coconut Flour is Good for You
- It is a great source for natural fiber.
- It is high in protein.
- It is low in carbohydrates (not that all carbs are bad, but many of us tend to get too many of carbs – or empty carbs – in many of our baked goods).
- It has a natural sweetness, which means you don’t need as much sweetener in recipes that include coconut flour.
The complaint I hear most often about Coconut Flour is that it is expensive. Yup. I can’t deny that. The stuff isn’t cheap. However, the more I use coconut flour, the more I realize that while it costs quite a bit more than wheat flour, you use quite a bit less coconut flour in most recipes. So maybe the cost isn’t so bad after all?
For instance, I typically use 3 cups of whole wheat flour to make 24 muffins for my family’s breakfast (I told you we eat a lot of muffins!). However, when I make muffins using coconut flour, I use only 1 cup to make the same 24 muffins. I find that I don’t go through the coconut flour very fast because ultimately, it just doesn’t take as much per recipe.
Coconut Flour is a dry flour – it usually requires a lot of eggs to create a recipe using coconut flour. Well how ’bout that? Now we’ve just added tons more protein because we’ve added more eggs. Have you tried these Basic Coconut Flour Muffins or Coconut Flour Banana Muffins yet? Wow, they’re good – and full of protein and great nutrition because of the coconut flour and eggs.
Where to Buy Coconut Flour
I buy my Coconut Flour either at Tropical Traditions, Azure Standard or through Amazon, depending on who has the best price at the time. Tropical Traditions often runs their Coconut Flour with a Buy One Get One Free sale. I never pay full price – I wait for the sale! I also watch Amazon to see if they have any specials going on. If they have Azukar Coconut Flour in stock, that is by far the best price I’ve ever seen!
I store my Coconut Flour in the freezer and just pull it out as I need it. I’m having fun learning how best to use it and since we love these Coconut Flour Muffins so much, I’m having fun experimenting with other recipes using the same idea. There’s a full page of coconut flour recipes over at Tropical Traditions that I’ve been looking over. Today, I tried their Gluten Free Coconut Flour Chocolate Cake.
If I didn’t know this cake was gluten free and made with coconut flour, I wouldn’t have known this cake was gluten free and made with coconut flour. Make sense? My kids didn’t know, so they didn’t know – and they liked it. Make sense? Mmm-hmmm. That means the cake was really good – and nobody knew it wasn’t “normal” but that it was packed with protein and nutrition.
Yep, much healthier than sky diving, these adventures of mine. You should get wild and crazy with me and make bubbles and coconut flour cake. Buckle your seat belt. It’s a wild ride.
{yawn}
Want to share some of the adventurous things you’ve been trying in your kitchen lately?
This coconut flour cake looks AMAZING! Can’t wait to make it. Thanks for sharing the link! What frosting recipe did you use inquiring minds want to know! Thank you! Blessings, kel
Cream cheese frosting: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/healthy-treat-for-today-banana-cake :)
Thank you so much, Laura! :)
I just gave you a shout-out on my FB page for inspiring me to make this cake and I tweaked your cream cheese frosting recipe to create a chocolate cream frosting. Linked back to your orginal recipes so folks will come check out your great page!! Thanks for all your wonderful ideas and terrific rposts!
You’re so wild and crazy! The cake looks delish! Thanks for sharing about the BOGO sales. I’ll have to watch for that.
That’s really interesting about using so much less of the coconut flour. Have you thought about doing a price comparison? I recently started purchasing a dog food that is considerably more per bag, but when I sat down and compared price per serving – because the serving on the new food is literally half the size of the serving for the old food – it came out to only 1 cent more per dog, per serving.
I’d be interested in what the actual difference in price is, considering the difference in amount needed.
And, my latest ‘adventures’ are probably very mild to someone like yourself LOL…I just started making my own yogurt. Which also means that I’ve been finding ways to use yogurt whey in my recipes ;).
That looks delicious. I recently got some coconut flour when it was on sale and now I have to try this recipe soon. What did you use for the frosting?
I made cream cheese frosting: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/healthy-treat-for-today-banana-cake
I saw coconut flour at my Sprouts this week. I shop there every week and this was the first time I’ve seen it. It was in the bulk section, on sale for $2.41/lb. I guess I should have gotten some? They also had, interestingly, coconut sugar, another product I had never seen there before. Maybe I just wasn’t looking for it. I believe it was under $4/lb, and I actually bought some of that. I was going to sub it for brown sugar, which is what it looks like. Have you ever heard of that?
When you use less flour, doesn’t that make fewer or smaller muffins? Or do your boys find them just as satisfying? I’ve been doing almond flour and am interested to try this as well. Thanks Laura!
I think we find the coconut flour muffins more satisfying than wheat muffins simply because they are so full of fiber and eggs. They really pack a punch. They keep me full ALL morning, which is rare.
The coconut flour muffins are the same size as regular muffins and makes the same amount. :)
I LOVE coconut flour. But beware it can be very hard on your tummy b/c of all the fiber. I can’t handle much. And can’t eat any right now b/c it bothers my son (nursing). So don’t go overboard with coconut baked goods :)
You’ve made this look waaaay to good. I think I’m going to have to jump in and try this myself.
Does the flour taste heavy of coconut? Can you smell it or taste it?
It only has a slight coconut flavor. If you use virgin coconut OIL along with the coconut flour, your baked goods are going to have a stronger coconut taste, otherwise, I didn’t really notice the coconut flavor in this cake (since it uses butter instead of coconut oil).
Do you know if you can take dried coconut and grind it in the grainmill into flour (or blender)? I just got some in the mail today and I would really lik eto try that cake for girls craft day this week.
My water kefir isn’t bubbling. What am I doing wrong?!
I didn’t get a good water kefir bubbly thing going on until I tried pouring the water kefir into an air tight bottle and letting it sit for 2-3 days for it’s second fermentation. THAT’S when I got fizz. Lots of fizz!
I know what you mean about the coconut flour amounts. I was looking at an almond flour cookie recipe that was almost identical to my coconut flour recipe. 2.5 cups of almond flour was called for, but only 1/2 cup plus a tablespoon for the coconut flour version!
And I think I’m where you are with being adventurous in the kitchen. It’s too hot to do much outside, and the gardens are going crazy with stuff, so there’s a lot to make and put away for later. I’ve been getting closer and closer to making everything we eat, and ditching a lot of our grains. (love reading through your old posts for inspiration)
Water kefir! I finally figured that out about a year ago (it took some practice to get it right), and we’re never ever without it. I even ordered my own “Grape Fizz” labels with a cartoony picture on it so it wouldn’t look so much like my kids were drinking beer (I use old beer bottles and a capper to achieve good fizz.)
PLEASE keep us posted on any Amazon sales on coconut flour!
I also have recently started using coconut flour, and it has really changed how I bake, and I have been baking GF for 20 years! I need to bake lower carb and whole grain GF for my son who has many tummy issues, and I have celiac, so our whole family eats GF most of the time. I have started using a mix of 5 parts brown rice flour, 4 parts coconut flour and 1 part potato flour or starch and that has made some of the best GF items I have ever made. My cookies are indistinguishable from their gluten counterparts, sometimes even better. The only challenge I have found is that coconut flour makes a very soft, delicate baked goods, and the waffles did not hold up well at all.
I like Bobs Red mill the best, and with Amazon’s Subscribe and Save by the case it is the lowest price I have found.
I’ll be right over to taste that yummy looking cake! Yum!
Strawberry freezer jam. Simple as it gets, but it feels so great to do things yourself and see it all stored. Yum!
I first started reading about coconut oil on your website. I live in Haiti, so I thought it would be ridiculous to ship coconut oil all the way to a tropical island in the Caribbean from the Philippines! My adventure this week has been to make my own coconut flour and oil from our coconuts. I used the coconut flour in your mud ball recipe in place of the wheat germ. I am looking forward to using the coconut oil soon. Thanks for inspiring adventure in the kitchen!
Now THAT is impressive. Way to go!!
i made an 18×24-inch sheet cake for the first time this weekend. an adventure to say the least.
I just ordered some coconut flour from Tropical Traditions, I can’t wait to try it out!!
Bored??/ Who could possibly get bored reading your post. You are so funny and love the way you incorporate your humor in the kitchen.
GOD BLESS!!!
I’m sold! I think I’ll try a recipe just as soon as my morning sickness is over and I have the energy to try new things. Thanks for being such a healthy eating inspiration!
Do you think I could replace the banana in this recipe with ALL THIS ZUCCHINI that I have? I would simply try it myself, but I am not a good “tweaker” in the kitchen. My experiments don’t usually work. That is why I love your recipes. Easy to follow and they turn out right. My grandson is a Type I diabetic and I am always looking for high protein/low carb recipes, especially for baked goods. Coconut flour sounds like a winner.
Yes, I don’t know why that wouldn’t work!
Sorry about the non clarity in my previous comment. I was referring to the Coconut Flour Banana Muffins recipe.
Grain Free Zucchini Muffin Recipe
2 cups almond flour
6 eggs
2-3 medium zucchini (about 2 cups shredded)
½ teaspoon sea salt
4 tablespoons tallow to grease muffin pan
Puree all ingredients in a blender or food processor or shred zucchini with a grater and mix all ingredients with a fork.
Pour batter into well greased muffin tins or a small loaf pan.
Bake at 350* for 20-30 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
This is a recipe I just got but have not tried. Hope it is helpful
My tropical traditions order just shipped. I am excited to try coconut flour. Still curious about your uses for coconut cream concentrate.
I love being able to make things for my family. We are increasing every day in that area. Recently made lotion and want to try soap soon. Also the water kefir sounds fun.
A friend of mine shared this link with me after I blogged about coconut flour this week. I am so thankful for the link to the Traditions site – I signed up for their newsletter so I can get a hold of that buy one/get one you mentioned. Thank you!
I am actually not a fan, at all, of coconut (the flakes sprinkled on desserts or the Mounds candy bar). I was wondering if any of your readers who also don’t like coconut have tried the flour and liked it? Thank you; it’d be encouraging to hear a review from a non-coconut lover before I buy…
Does the coconut flour tastes strongly of coconut?
No, I find that in the baked goods I don’t taste the coconut flavor at all, UNLESS I’ve also used coconut OIL in the recipe!
I know you wrote this blog post a while ago but I am hoping you might be able to answer my question anyway…
If I purchase coconut flour, how do I know the measurements to sub in for my recipes? Do I use say 1/3 of a wheat flour measurement? And how many extra eggs? Or is it more of a test it out yourself sort of thing (which is OK- I do that a lot anyway when I make up recipes). The flour you just mentioned today has me wanting to try it but I am confused on the usage.
THanks!
KK
I’m not sure there’s a hard and fast rule as far as adjusting recipes to use coconut flour instead of wheat. I had tried just switching it out and that for sure didn’t work. The recipes I’ve used that call specifically for coconut flour have worked great for me, and I’m hoping to play a little bit and figure out more recipes to share!
I’ve already received my coconut flour, is there any specific way it needs to be stored to keep it fresh longer?
I put it in a plastic container with a lid in my pantry, does it need to be in the freezer?
Thanks so much!! :)
Putting it in the freezer would be a better option for keeping
it fresh longer.
Has anyone tried Pamela’s Baking Mix for gluten-free baking? Wondering how healthy it is.
Thanks.
I appreciate all the information you shared on coconut flour. My SIL is needing recipes that are gluten-free and egg-free…do you know HOW well that (yummy looking) cake recipe works with egg substitutes?
Have you ever made your own coconut flour? I’m trying it out today, and am so excited to see how well it works. It’s my big adventure for the week! ;)
So did you use regular sugar with the cake recipe? I know you usually sub for it so I was curious. I love your whole wheat recipes. Sis is GF so this would be great to try especially if the whole family will like it ;)
I used sucanat instead of sugar. :)
Your recipes look delicious! I’m a T1 Diabetic who also suffers with IBS, so thou I luvv cheese, it doesn’t love me back. But I’m going f to try your recipe to coat my roasted cauliflower florets.
I also wonder if your banana muffins can be substituted with zucchini b without the almond flour …big don’t do so well with nuts.
Thanks again for your posts!
I am making a chocolate zucchini coconut cake and it calls for 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour. Do you think coconut flour would be too much to use instead with all the other coconut? There is coconut oil, flaked and toasted coconut.
Coconut four is very dry, so you’ll want to probably only use 1/2 cup of coconut flour and maybe add an extra egg or two. :)