chocoholic

After the success of the Carrot and Coconut cake I've been playing around with coconut flour a bit more.

If you've read any of my previous 'food' posts you will know that a) my children have several allergies (including gluten) and b) I am a bit on the keen side on cooking with coconut. This is because of a) mainly but the more I read up on the subject, it's also because it is just so darned healthy for you.

Coconut flour takes some getting used to, however. It lacks the elasticity that gluten provides and is altogether a much heavier, drier flour, making it a bit of an acquired taste. Not flavour, I hasten to add, because that is good! But I have been on a very long mission to find a batch of cake recipes that the children will enjoy because, believe me, it is a tricky road to travel on .. particularly at birthday parties when the lights go down and the candled cakes come out!

After a couple of trial runs, these brownies turned out really well though. Originally I tried using cocoa flour but that can be drying even in a wheat based recipe. But using good chocolate from a bar (Green and Blacks dark cooks' chocolate with 72% cocoa) and melting it in a bain marie made the cake moist and delicious. Still not on a wheat level, but pretty much there I think and there was a definite thumbs up from the Egons.

chocolate and coconut brownies

(gluten free)

110g good dark chocolate, broken into pieces

85g coconut oil, or butter (or a combination if you wish)

110g runny honey

5 medium eggs

1/4 vanilla pod, scraped

55g coconut flour

pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 7 x 7 inch square baking tin with parchment paper.

Put the chocolate and coconut oil/butter into a heatproof bowl. Set over a pan of barely simmering water (bain marie) and allow to melt, stirring occasionally. Set it aside to cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, whisk the honey, eggs and vanilla till combined. Sift the coconut flour in in stages and mix well. Coconut flour tends to lump so you may need to give it a quick whisk, but not too much or you will knock the air out of the mixture.

Pour into the baking tin and cook for 20 - 25 minutes.

It would be lovely if you tried some coconut baking, just to see what you think. I guess it's a bit like removing sugar from your cups of tea .. unthinkable to begin with but once you've got used to it, it becomes second nature. And I bet your tummy will thank you for it!

Happy Wednesday to you!

Addendum : For details of where I buy my coconut oil and flour, check out the link above. Coconut oil is widely available in shops and supermarkets but sadly not the flour but the same link will give lots of other info about using coconut products. Worth a browse!