Coconut flour is fairly new to the North American market and occasionally hard to find but well worth the effort ! ( I use Certified organic coconut flour from Aloha Nu )
This flour is made from the fiber of the coconut meat after almost all the oil has been extracted to make Coconut Oil.
It's gluten free, making it a suitable substitute for those with gluten and wheat allergies. It's also high in protein, low in carbs and it contains more fiber than many other flours.
For regular baking or cooking, you can substitute aprox. 10 -25 % of regular flour for coconut flour to add extra fiber. Some recipes however, can be made with 100% coconut flour and be totally gluten free (and so delicious no one will ever know ! ) The easiest ones to do this with are muffins, bars, pancakes, cakes and quick breads.
Since coconut flour has no gluten, plenty of eggs must be used to make up for it. On average, for every 1 cup of coconut flour, 4-5 eggs must be used. To help with binding, sticky sweeteners can also be used, like honey, maple syrup, etc. Also keep in mind that coconut flour is a very "thirsty" flour, and soaks up amazing amounts of liquid. So it's likely that you'll have to increase the liquid amount in your recipe depending on what you are making.
Many recipes containing wheat flour can be converted to 100% coconut flour, with a little practice. Coconut flour behaves differently from recipe to recipe, so some experimenting will have to be done to get the hang of it.
( I use Certified organic coconut flour from Aloha Nu )
Here's a recipe to get you started...
Coconut flour muffins
3 lg. eggs
2 Tbps milk ( or whipping cream for low carb )
2 TBSP. melted butter
3 Tbsp. honey ( or preferred low carb sweetener )
1/4 tsp. pure vanilla
1/4 c. coconut flour
1/4 tsp. gluten free baking powder
1/2 c. finely chopped nuts
1/2 c. raisins ( omit for lower carb )
mix eggs, butter, milk honey & vanilla.
Combine flour & baking powder & add to wet ingr. mix until smooth. blend in porridge ( or nuts) & raisins .
Pour into greased or papered muffin tins. bake @ 400 for aprox 15 mins or till done in center.
