What is Coconut Flour & Why Use It
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What is coconut flour and why use it? That is what I asked myself during a recent trip to Homegoods. They have a new Wellness Section and it was filled with all natural, organic, vegan and gluten free baking products. I have never used Coconut Flour until recently. Last week I shared a banana muffins with coconut flour for the HomeGoods Design Happy Blog and I used Coconut Flour. Coconut flour is a healthy alternative to traditional white flour and is especially good for diabetics. My husband is a brittle diabetic and my dad and grandfather are type 2 diabetics. Using healthy alternatives to keep the carbs and sugar content low are key when baking or cooking for diabetics.
What is Coconut Flour & Why Use it?
Coconut Flour is made from the pulp of a coconut and it’s a soft sand like texture. It’s SO different than regular white powdery flour. One thing that I did notice is the consistency is very different when baking. You will need either more eggs or more liquid when using Coconut Flour. I actually substituted 0% Greek Yogurt instead of an almond or coconut milk in an effort to add more protein. I wasn’t sure how the muffins were going to turn out but I was surprisingly please. They were light, fluffy and moist.
Coconut Flour is a healthy alternative to grain flour (so gluten free), an excellent source of dietary Fiber, Source of Protein, has no artificial colors or flavors and no preservatives. It’s naturally sweet and great for cooking or baking. Like I said, the main difference that I noticed was the texture of the muffin batter. At first I was like, this is never going to rise! -ha. Sure enough, the last 7 minutes of baking, the muffins and bread (I made a bread too) started to rise and cooked perfectly.
You can find Coconut Flour in most grocery stores (I found mine in Homegoods which was 1/2 the price of my local grocery store) in the baking isle. Coconut Oil is also a healthy alternative to traditional oil as well. I actually tried another recipe where I melted the coconut oil (it looks like candle wax) and wow, the muffins were delicious! I will share that muffin recipe soon. In the meantime, you can get the full Banana Muffin with Coconut Flour (with chocolate chips) recipe over on the Design Happy Blog.
Disclosure: I was compensated by HomeGoods to provide a healthy sweet treat recipe on their Design Happy Blog
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I’m glad your muffins and bread ended up turning out. It’s always scary when you try something new! I haven’t ever tried coconut flour before. I like using Greek yogurt sometimes in my baked goods also.
Wow, looks great, I have coconut flour in my fridge waiting for a recipe. I think I’ll add 2 tsp baking powder and use cacao chips instead.
Thank you so much for this post, because our fifteen year old son has type 1 diabetes, (erase toy Dx). I just called my hubby into tge room to read your post about this coconut flour and it’s benefits. We will be picking some up. Thanks also about tge tip that it’s half price at Homegoods. Tge muffins looks amazing. Can’t wait to make some. Yum!
I LOVE the texture of coconut flour. These look amazing!
These sound so good, I need to try out coconut flour!
Thank you ! They lasted a whole 30 minutes in our house ha.