experiment: coconut flour

one of my favourite places to shop is Bulk Barn (or any bulk food store). i love wandering through the aisles and gazing into the big, clear, plastic bins that are filled with luxurious mountains of chocolates, nuts, grains, cereals, candies. it's so much fun to just be able to see these things as they are with no boxes and no fancy labels, just the innocent little ingredients, dressed down and fully exposed. i love the smell too; somehow it brings back memories from my childhood, and i'm literally like a kid in a candy store there. bulk stores are a baker's dream. they are stocked with all of the hard to find, rare ingredients that pop up from time to time in recipes for fancy pastries and desserts. and honestly, there is something about being able to buy something in any quantity you like that is really appealing to me. see, you don't have to commit to anything at Bulk Barn. i don't like committing to things.

anyway, you are probaby wondering, why the opinion piece about Bulk Barn, right? well, i'm getting to my point. while perusing the aisles like a kid in a candy store one day, i stumbled across a bin filled with coconut flour. i read the label and was immediately intrigued. in Sri Lanka, we love our coconuts and we eat them in just about any form we can, but coconut flour? i had never seen this before. the flour itself looked inconspicuous. it was beige. almost the colour of soft whole wheat flour. i read the ingredients: pure coconut meat. i stared at the dusty, pillowy pile in wonder. if all it is is coconut meat, then surely it should smell just like pure coconut. so i opened the bin and scooped up a bit. the aroma was divine. i knew that i had to buy some. i checked the label and the price was right (77 cents for 100g!) so i put some into a bag and proceeded down the aisles. i rushed home to tell my mom and sister about my amazing find. have you heard of coconut flour? i asked them. they hadn't. i was excited, i was enthusiastic, i was...confused. what does one do with coconut flour? after some research i discovered that coconut flour is a much loved ingredient among celiac disease sufferers and low-carb dieters alike. coconut meat is dried and its oil is extracted. the fibre that remains is then ground into a very fine powder. the flour is (obviously) gluten free and is etremely high in dietary fibre but low in carbohydrates (apparently) and since the coconut meat is defatted before it is dried, the amount of fat that remains in the flour is minimal. and for those of you who care about this sort of thing, the calories in coconut flour are pretty on par with those in regular, all purpose flour.

so, time for the experiment. my sister was not feeling well and needed some TLC, and my aunt, pregnant cousin and niece were scheduled to come and spend the day at our house on the weekend. to be honest, i had started concocting some ideas for recipes when i was still waiting in line to pay for my goods, and while it would have been fun trying to use some of this indulgent flour in a cool bread recipe, i was still just beginning my slow journey back to bread baking after a very traumatic experience. the label at Bulk Barn provided a recipe for some cinnamon sugar cookies, and that seemed like a fantastic first experiment for a sunny, "get well soon," family-filled weekend.

Cinnamon-Sugar Coconut Cookies (recipe courtesy of Bulk Barn)

3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup coconut flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

preheat oven to 375 degrees (F). combine butter, eggs, sugar (reserving 1 tablespoon) and vanilla. mix until well combined. add coconut flour. stir until smooth. let mixture sit for 5 minutes until it becomes thick. comibe cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl. form dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and roll in cinnamon-sugar. place cookies on a greased or parchment lined baking sheet about 1 inch apart. flatten cookies slightly with the back of a spoon. bake for about 15 minutes. makes 24 cookies.

i debated only making a half recipe in case people didn't like the cookies, but luckily, i made the whole thing. the cookies were devoured. they are incredibly soft and airy and the coconut flour gives them a unique, nutty flavour. if you look closely at the flour, you can tell that there are little coconut fibres throughout it and it has a distinct, gritty texture. the dough never really becomes hard enough to handle easily. forming the balls and rolling them in the sugar was certainly a messy task, but it was definitely worth it.

i don't think that coconut flour would be a good substitute in any bread recipe, but i would imagine that it would do well in any kind of bar or cookie. it might also work in a cake recipe but i would probably combine it with regular flour if i was going to use it. all in all, coconut flour = awesome new find. i still have some left and i'm already dreaming of what the next experiment will be.