Tag Archives: coconut flour

Desserts, Recipes

Perfect Cake to combine with fruit

Photo: Almond Cake

A sign of spring in the Truckee Meadows is a farmer’s fruit stand on a street or parking lot near your house as some of the California growers begin bringing their spring harvest to the Reno area. We have one who sets up on the corner of the road to our house, and for the last three weeks, he’s been offering oranges, mangoes, cherries, and strawberries fresh from the farms. Nothing beats fresh, plant-ripened berries with their wonderful sweet taste. The first batch we bought could have been a little riper before picking, but the boxes from last weekend — perfection!

When you have sweet, flavorful strawberries, they just call out for cake and whipped cream. It’s a bit of an indulgence when you’re counting your carbs, but they are within limits when you mix the berries with a granulated sugar substitute, and you make a low carb cake. While not a shortcake, this recipe for an almond-flavored cake is moist and delicious complimenting the berries so well. You can use it for any kind of fruit you’d like for the topping or put a sugar glaze (with a sugar substitute, of course) over the top to serve with only a trio of raspberries and a mint leaf for garnish.

I made mine using Dixie Carb Counters Bakesquick, but the original recipe from Bob’s Red Mill called for almond flour. You can also use a combination of a low carb flour with almond flour. I changed the recipe to add in ricotta cheese, which adds to the moistness and flavor of the cake. Since it calls for coconut flour, I altered the egg option to 1 whole egg and 2 egg whites to give it more lift. You can use liquid egg whites for this.  I changed the proportions to a small cake recipe. If you want a large cake, double the amounts of all ingredients and use a 9″x13″ cake pan.

Photo: Cake with fruit
Cake with freshly cut peaches and whipped cream on top. So refreshing.

Moist Almond Cake

Based on a recipe from Bob’s Red Mill as made by Rene Averett

6 tablespoons Butter
1/2 cup Sugar
1 Egg
2 Egg Whites
2 tablespoons Cream or Buttermilk
2 tablespoons Water
2 tablespoons Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
1/2 tsp Almond Extract
3/4 cup Low Carb Flour
1/4 cup Coconut Flour
Pinch Salt
1 tsp. Baking Powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F.). Prepare a 6-inch square baking pan by putting parchment paper on the bottom, then spraying the bottom and sides with baking spray.

In a medium-sized bowl, add the butter and sugar substitute and use a mixer to cream together until it is smooth. Add in the egg and egg whites and beat until they are fully mixed in. Add cream, ricotta cheese, and almond extract and mix until blended.

In a separate small bowl, mix flour and coconut flour with the salt and baking powder. Add the flour to the egg mixture in three batches and beat each addition until all the flour is mixed in. You will have a thick batter. Let it sit a few minutes. Coconut flour expands as it gets wet, so you may need to add a little water to have an easily spreadable batter.

Spread into your cake pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the cake is done. Test with a toothpick in the middle that should out clean.

Remove to a rack to cool about 10 minutes, then remove from the pan. If the cake has not pulled away from the sides of the pan, run a plastic knife around the edges, then put a plate over the pan and flip it. Remove the parchment paper if it flipped out with the cake.

Let cool, cut into slices and serve with berries and whipped cream or make an icing to top it.

Makes 6 to 8 servings. I cut it in 6 servings initially, but with the berries and cream, a smaller slice works great.

To my shame, I didn’t take a photo of the cake with the strawberries and whipped cream on top.  I will be doing this recipe again in a couple of weeks and will add a photo then.

 

Breads, Recipes

Need a Substitute for Garlic Bread?

Photo: Garlic Cheese Waffle

Here’s a nice twist on a waffle to make a delicious toast to go with your savory dinner. It’s especially nice if you have anything with a sauce so you can soak up the goodness. It’s also great with chicken, pork, steak, or soups and stews. You can use buttermilk and a bit of cornmeal for extra flavor if you wish, but they do add a few carbs to each serving. The flax meal helps to bring some of the cornmeal texture and a nutty flavor, so the waffle is quite tasty without the added ingredients.

For a low carb flour, you can use almond flour, soy flour, coconut flour, or any low carb flour mix such as Bakesquick or Carbquick. If you use coconut flour, use 3 tablespoons instead of 1/3 cup low carb flour and add 1/4 cup egg whites.

Garlic Cheese Waffle

1/3 cup Low Carb Flour
2 tablespoons Golden Flax meal, ground
1 tablespoon Yellow Cornmeal (optional)
1 Egg, fresh
1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Garlic powder
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 tablespoon Grated Parmesan & Romano Cheese
1 tablespoon Buttermilk(optional)
1 tablespoon Butter
1/4 cup shredded Mozzarella or Cheddar Cheese

Preheat your waffle iron while preparing the mix.

In a medium bowl, add low carb flour, Flax meal, egg, oil, Parmesan cheese, baking powder, and garlic powder and mix together until blended. Add buttermilk and stir it in. If the batter is too thick, thin with a little water. This should spread easily but not too quickly over the waffle iron grids.

Pour batter over the bottom plate of the waffle iron, close lid and cook the recommended time for your waffle maker. Mine takes about two minutes to cook. Watch the waffle iron for the steam coming out and when it is almost gone, try to lift the lid. If it resists, cook the waffle a little longer. Once it is done, the top will open easily.

Photo: Waffles under the broiler

Spread butter over the top and sprinkle mozzarella or cheddar cheese on top, then put under the broiler for about a minute to melt the cheese.

Delicious with any savory meal but especially good with Italian-style meals.

Makes 2 servings.

Photo: Nutrition Info

Breads, Italian Inspired Recipes, Recipes

A quick bread recipe to end the month

Photo: {an of focaccia bread

Want a quick and easy bread to make? This is a focaccia-style flat bread that can be made into sandwiches, a soup or stew bread, or just toast and butter to serve with jam and tea. Unlike focaccia, this is a flat bread made without yeast. All the rise in it comes from the eggs and a little bit of baking powder.

I used CarbQuick, a low carb flour that behaves a little like Bisquick, but with lots fewer carbohydrates. You can also make it with almond flour or any other low carb flour. I also used a little coconut flour in it, but I wouldn’t recommend making the whole thing with coconut flour.

Focaccia-style Flat Bread

2 large Eggs
1/4 cup Egg whites
1/4 cup Canola Oil
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasonings, crushed
1 tablespoon Parmesan Cheese, grated
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 cup Carbquick
2 tablespoons Coconut Flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F.) Prepare a small baking pan (about 10×6-inches) by cutting a piece of parchment paper to fit. I used a toaster oven-sized pan.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking powder, and seasonings together. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, egg whites, and oil together. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir until they are combined. Use your hands if needed. Add the Parmesan cheese and mix it into the dough.

Turn the dough into the baking pan and spread it evenly across the pan.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 6 slices of bread.

Image: Nutrition Facts

 

Breads, Recipes

Cream Cheese Bread checks out

Photo: Cream Cheese Bread from Coconut Flour

Recently, a photo with the ingredients for a cream cheese bread loaf was posted, but it lacked mixing instructions, and the carbohydrate information on it was way off since it claimed it had only 6 carbs in the whole loaf. Nonetheless, the recipe is valid, and the slices are pretty low in carbs. So, I decided to give it a try and let everyone know how it works.

First, I cut the recipe in half and made about three-quarters of a small loaf pan. From that, I can deduce that the full recipe below won’t make a large loaf of bread. The one I made is about 2 to 2-1/2 inch tall and about three inches across. It looks great in the photos. I also made it two ways– once with coconut flour and once with almond flour. I added 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar substitute to the recipe.

Both of them work pretty well although the almond flour needs to be adjusted to replace the coconut flour since the latter expands by two to three times in the liquid ingredients. Both of them taste pretty good. The coconut one is a little sweeter, but the coarseness of the flour comes through. The almond flour one is less sweet and lends itself to a more conventional bread. For my own use, I would pair the coconut flour version with fruit or make it into a fruit bread. The almond flour could stand up to adding herbs in it and pairing it with meat and cheese. I will be experimenting more with this recipe and will let you know if I come up with something wonderful.

Both are close to the same carb count per slice and both are fairly sturdy bread that can be thinly sliced if needed. A full loaf would make about 10 slices of 3/8″ thick slices The carb count is based on 10 slices.

Photo: Almond Flour Cream Cheese Bread
A 3/4 loaf of almond flour cream cheese bread.

Cream Cheese Bread Loaf

8 ounces Cream Cheese
1/4 cup Butter
1 tablespoon granulated Sugar Substitute
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
8 large Eggs
6 tablespoons Coconut Flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut a piece of parchment paper to cover the bottom and long sides of a small loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, add the cream cheese, butter, and sugar and cream together using a mixer until smooth.

Add the cinnamon, vanilla, and eggs and mix until combined.

Add the flour and baking powder and mix together thoroughly. Wipe the sides with a spatula to get all the mix blended together.

Spray the parchment-lined baking pan with cooking spray. Pour the batter mix into the pan and smooth.

Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until a toothpick or knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cool 5 to 10 minutes, then run a knife around any edge touching the pan and lift the loaf out using the overlapped parchment paper, then slide it onto a serving plate.

Makes about ten slices.

For the almond flour version, add 1-1/4 cup Almond Flour to replace the 6 tablespoons of Coconut Flour. I used a less processed almond flour, but the higher quality ones will yield a finer grained bread.

Taste test with both the coconut flour (left) and almond flour (right) slices smeared with butter. The almond flour is a little taller.

Nutrition Coconut flour

Recipes, Vegetables & Salads

Southern Treat of Oven-fried Green Tomatoes

My first post for August and I’m sorry about that.  It’s been a busy couple of weeks with my mini-cookbook, Breakfast Choices for a Low Carb Lifestyle coming out at the end of July followed by an unexpected medical issue last week that left me with a bandaged face and poor vision.  Doing better now, so I want to get a recipe up that I hope you will enjoy.

If you’re from the southern United States, you’ve probably counted Fried Green Tomatoes as one of the best things about tomatoes in the spring and summer. They are picked before they begin changing colors and the larger, the better. Slice them about 1/4 inch thick and dip them in seasoned flour to create a special treat made the low carb way. I did try to fry these, but the flour and egg mixture didn’t want to stay on the tomato. It’s a problem I’ve encountered before with using low carb flours. But if you bake them in a hot oven, they get crispy and delicious.

Oven-Fried Green Tomatoes

1 Green Tomato, medium to large
1/4 cup Coconut Flour or other Low Carb Flour
1/3 cup Flax Meal
1 large Egg
2 tablespoons Parmesan Cheese, grated
Pinch Black Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Spicy Red Chili seasoning

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F.) Prepare a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.

Slice the tomato into four to six slices, about 1/3 inch thick.
Put the almond flour into a saucer. Break the egg into a bowl and beat with a little water. In another saucer, put the flax meal, Parmesan cheese and seasonings.

Dip each slice in the flour, then in the egg and then the flax mixture, pressing the flax into the tomato until it sticks.

Place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with each slice. If you don’t have enough flax mixture, add a little more plus more seasoning. This can vary with the size of the tomato slices.

Bake in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes until the slices are sizzling and golden brown.

Serve with a mayonnaise-based dressing or a low carb Ranch Dressing. Delicious as a side dish or as a snack.

Makes 2 servings.

Nutrition Info per serving:
Calories: 249 Fat: 18.3 g Net Carbs: 4.6 g Protein: 12.1 g

Note: You can fry these instead of baking them, but I had trouble with the batter staying on the slices when they are fried. If you wish to fry, use a small pan and add about 1/4 inch of oil to it.