LCHF Coconut Flour Brownies Produce So-So Results

I tried the Coconut Flour Brownie Recipe on the back of this bag of coconut flour, swapping out faux sugar for the real stuff, but otherwise staying true to the recipe. 

Honestly, the texture was okay, but the flavor just wasn't chocolatey enough.  I've read that 1/4 cup of coconut flour can be swapped for 1 cup of regular flour in a recipe, so I may try to recalibrate my Brownies #2 recipe by deleting the flax seed and vital wheat gluten flour (which I am avoiding these days), and adding in coconut flour. 

For what its worth, here's how I made the ho-hum brownies.  In my humble opinion, they need more fat and more cocoa.  Do you have any good LCHF brownie recipes?  **Whine**

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup coconut oil (should be liquid, if it is solid at your version of room temp, warm it slightly)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 6 eggs
• ½ cup xylitol
• 24 drops liquid splenda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup sifted coconut flour

Directions:

1.      Blend coconut oil and cocoa powder, making sure to get all the lumps out.

2.      In a bowl, beat together eggs, faux sugars, salt and vanilla.

3.      Stir in cocoa mixture.

4.      Add sifted coconut flour and whisk the batter well until there are no lumps.

5.      Pour batter into a greased 8" square baking pan.

6.      Bake at 350' for 30-35 minutes.

Dark Chocolate is Good For You…

…and it can fit into your LCHF lifestyle.  Surprise!

I admit that I am a chocolate fanatic.  Always have been and always will be.  When I restarted strict LCHF in early August, I made some promises to myself.  One of those promises was that I would find a way to make regular, decadent chocolate consumption compatible with LCHF. 

Guess what I found out?  30-40 grams of dark chocolate, eaten every day, is ridiculously good for you.  Plus, if you are choosy with your chocolate, you can easily find bars that contain 30-40 gram servings containing 10 or fewer grams of net carbs. 

Let's discuss, shall we?

LCHF Chocolate Coconut Candy Cups

Check out this recipe!
Each candy cup contains less than 2 grams of net carbs, and just over 1 gram of dietary fiber; each candy cup contains 6.5 grams of nourishing** fat (predominantly medium chain triglycerides - see why this is important**) from the coconut alone. 

Best of all, the only sweetener is that used in the chocolate that you melt.  There is no additional sugar or faux sugar added.  This is an unbelievably decadent treat. 

Recipe: DIY Coconut "Manna"

Make it yourself! A friend of mine enjoys this product called Coconut Manna, which she gets from Whole Foods ("Whole Paycheck").  I'd heard about it on some of the blogs that I follow, so when she mentioned how much she likes it and offered me a try, I said sure, checked out the nutritional information (1 gram net carbs per tablespoon), and dug in with said tablespoon.  It was really good: coconutty, creamy... delicious.  Turns out that it costs about $10 for a 15 oz jar.  There is another, similar product on the market, by Artisana, but that is even more expensive. 

I checked out the ingredient list, and the only item on there is Organic Coconut.

It was time for kitchen experimentation.  I made my own pureed coconut product, and I am very happy with the results.  The yield was exactly 2 cups (16 oz).  The cost was a mere $3.99 for 1 pound of the pricey, organic-y shredded coconut they sell at Whole Foods.

The taste was great.  Here's what I did:

How Sweet are You?

It may be a pain in the fingers, but I heart my glucometer. 

By teaching me how my body reacts to the things that I eat, this device has given me a new measure of gustatory freedom.  I've learned a lot, and have had a lot of surprises along the way. 

Our sense of taste does not always alert us when our food contains carbohydrate, and we can be lulled into a false sense of security when a meal appears to be heavy on the meat or vegetables.

One of the best uses of a glucometer is to understand whether the food you enjoy at your favorite restaurants or workplace cafeteria, or your aunt's famous [insert name of recipe], is as healthy and appropriate as you think it is for your WOE. 

Coconut Chocolate Mousse Recipe

Last week, I posted about a low carb party menu that I was working on for the weekend.  I thought I would make this paleo-friendly coconut chocolate mousse I had read about on marksdailyapple.com.  Well.  I made it.  Unfreaking believably good.  I had to tweak the recipe a little bit, because there was an issue with the fat content of the coconut milk I had in my pantry (not really creamy enough).  Also, I've borrowed a "separatory funnel" technique that I learned to clarify butter, and applied it to separating the coconut cream from the watery coconut liquid.

Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

• 2 x 13.5 oz cans of coconut milk (preferably organic, NOT light)
• 1 x 3.5 oz bar of dark chocolate, melted and cooled (I used IKEA's 60% dark chocolate bar)
• 2 tbsp coconut oil (it happened to be liquified)

Directions:

1. Put a large, ziplock storage bag inside of a medium bowl.  Pour the contents of both cans of coconut milk into the ziplock bag, get as much of the air out of the bag as you can, and seal.  Place the whole thing on the lowest shelf of your fridge, and chill for at least 8 hours. 
2. 8 hours later... melt the dark chocolate in the microwave at 1 minutes intervals, until melted, stirring between each interval.  Let it sit on the counter and cool a bit while you complete the next step.
3. Separating the coconut cream from the water: First, get the mixing bowl out that you intend to use to whip the coconut cream, and do the same with the container that you intend to use to store the coconut water - place them next to each other on the counter.  Remove your bowl from the fridge.  Second, gently grasp the bag of separated coconut milk by the seal (careful not to mix it up), and holding the bag over the coconut water bowl, snip off a small part of one corner of the bag with scissors.  Third, let all of the coconut water go into the coconut water bowl.  Fourth, when it appears that mostly coconut cream is left in the bag, quickly move the bag so that it is over the mixing bowl, and squeeze the remaining coconut cream into that bowl (it is okay if a little coconut water is left in there).
4. Whip the coconut cream with a whisk, or mixer, until it appears to be slightly fluffier.  Add the melted, cooled chocolate and the coconut oil to the bowl, and continue to whisk until thoroughly combined.
5. Divide the mixture into 4 little cups, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours on the lowest shelf of your fridge. 
6. Serve, with a little unsweeted whipped cream, and a couple of raspberries.  Each serving is about 1/2 cup.

The result is amazing: the mousse is dense, rich and creamy.  The flavor is deeply chocolate-y, with only a slight floral hint of coconut.  My guests - none of whom were either low carb or paleo, enjoyed the heck out of dessert.  I had one with them on Saturday, and one after dinner on Sunday, and it was phenomenal. 

The best news is that, as of Sunday night, I am in ketosis!  So, color this recipe low-carb induction friendly, as well.

Some ideas for future experimentation:  This would be PHENOMENAL frozen, either as a kind of sorbet, or as a fudgsicle-type ice pop.