coconut flour Archives - A Calculated Whisk

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins + Pure Indian Foods Grassfed Ghee

February 11, 2014 By Becky 5 Comments

I had a snow day last Wednesday, and spent the morning making these banana chocolate chip muffins. They’re a worthy project for any morning, unexpected day off or not. Here are some reasons to give these muffins a try: they’re gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, and lactose-free, they’re high in protein, they’re sweetened mostly (or entirely) with fruit, and they’re delicious. Oh, and they have chocolate in them!

Baking with just coconut flour requires a lot of eggs, but the finished muffins don’t taste eggy. They’re moist and bursting with chocolate chips, and they have a subtle banana flavor. Unlike many muffins that are packed with sugar and low in protein, eating a couple of these makes for a pretty balanced breakfast in terms of protein, carbs, and healthy fats. That means they’ll keep you full for longer, but they still taste like treats.

Paleo Flour Blend Recipe

November 15, 2013 By Becky 114 Comments

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Paleo Flour Blend | acalculatedwhisk.com

This easy-to-make paleo flour blend works beautifully as a cup-for-cup replacement for all-purpose flour in many dessert recipes!

Are you as addicted to baking as I am? Are you also, like me, trying to eat healthier food without spending all day and night in the kitchen? This paleo flour blend is for you. When you bake grain-free, you can make delicious treats without all the guilt and gluten.

When I stay gluten-free, I have more energy and fewer tummy problems. Even if you’re not technically gluten-intolerant, you may still feel better without it! I also bet your hips will thank you.

To save time in the kitchen, this flour blend creates a one-stop-shop for gluten-free baking: you measure once and get the benefits of three grain-free flours in precise balance with each other. If you haven’t tried baking without grains yet, whip up a batch of this flour blend! Then start experimenting, and see who you can fool. I bet you’ll be hearing, “I can’t believe this is gluten-free!” in no time.

I like to make my baked goods with a combination of almond flour, tapioca starch (also known as tapioca flour), and coconut flour. The almond flour lends flavor and richness, the tapioca starch adds lightness and helps with browning, and the coconut flour helps achieve a cake-like texture.

I’ve been experimenting with the best ratio for these three flours, and have settled upon 3:2:1–three parts almond flour, 2 parts tapioca starch, and 1 part coconut flour.

Once you have the right quantities, the next step is to sift the three flours together to make a blend, so that you only need to measure my flour once to make a recipe. You can of course make any amount of this flour blend by following the 3:2:1 ratio; the recipe below will make about four cups.

You can start by using this flour blend in these molten chocolate cakes (pictured above)–just use 6 tablespoons of the blend instead of the smaller quantities of each type of flour. Next you can use it in these Mexican brownies!

I’m experimenting with substituting this flour blend cup-for-cup for all-purpose flour in regular recipes, and will update this post to reflect which recipes I’ve had success with. I can’t guarantee that this will be an effective flour substitute in every case, but it’s a great place to start. If this blend works for you with a particular recipe, leave a comment with a link below so others can try it, too!

Update: I used this blend instead of all-purpose flour in this blondie recipe from Smitten Kitchen with great results! I also used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar, but other than that I followed the recipe exactly.

Note: I haven’t tested substitutions for this recipe, but some readers have, so try searching the comments if you have a question!

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Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Cake Pops (Gluten-free)

October 27, 2013 By Becky 3 Comments

These pops were a huge hit at the Halloween party we went to last night–they were all gone about ten minutes after we arrived. One of my classmates said the pop was so good that she had to sit down! So, these might knock you right off your feet.

Cake pops take a little while to make, but they’re worth it! And, since there are no eggs involved, you can taste away all throughout the process. Wrapped in little bags, these pops would make great birthday party or wedding favors. There are endless possibilities for decorating them–you can dye sugar any color appropriate to the occasion, or extend the peanut butter theme by using crushed Reese’s Pieces or peanut butter cups.

Chocolate Cake with Peppermint Ganache (Paleo, Gluten-free, Dairy-free)

October 21, 2013 By Becky 10 Comments

Ben and I celebrated the two-year anniversary of our first date yesterday. In addition to being an important relationship milestone, I thought having an anniversary was a great excuse to bake. I asked Ben what dessert I should make for our special day, and he said, “Why don’t you make a cake?”.

It was such a brilliant idea, not only because cakes are the most majestic of all the desserts, but also because I have not posted any cakes on this blog yet. I’ve posted lots of cupcakes (too many, some might say), but no actual cakes.

I set off in search of a great paleo chocolate cake recipe to use, since I haven’t really made any paleo chocolate cupcakes that I could adapt (although these muffins came pretty close). When I found this recipe from Zenbelly Catering, I could tell it was a hit from the dozens of raving comments. Food blogs are the best! Try to find that many (or any) reader responses to a recipe in an actual print cookbook.

All those readers were right–this is an awesome cake! I made a few changes to the cake recipe, including adding some coffee to deepen the chocolate flavor. Don’t worry, the cake won’t taste like coffee (or coconut, or almonds–the flavor is pure chocolate!).

For the ganache, though, I wanted to try something a little different, so I added peppermint extract. If you don’t like mint and chocolate, you can just leave that out. Ben and I both loved it, but we are the kind of people who drink hot chocolates with peppermint schnapps all winter long. (Is it time for those yet? Almost? They are basically the only thing I like about cold weather).

I wanted to make a whipped cream filling as suggested in the original recipe, but my coconut cream didn’t have enough time to set up in the fridge. Make sure you click on over to the original recipe if you want to try the cream layer for your cake–it sounds amazing! I’m all over that for our third anniversary, or the next time another cake-worthy occasion comes along.

Pumpkin Cake with Molasses Cream (Paleo, Gluten-free)

September 21, 2013 By Becky 7 Comments

It is only September 21st, and I may already be tired of pumpkin.

I mean, “tired” is a little extreme–I probably just need one week off, and then I’ll be ready to get back on the pumpkin train.

The reason is that I had to make this pumpkin cake four or five times. The first time, I tried to make a vegan version using flax eggs. I baked the cake for a long, long time, but it still did not set completely. It had a fabulous flavor, but it was like a pudding-cake. After cutting off a few slices, the rest of the loaf couldn’t even hold itself together, and slumped into the delicious pumpkin version of an old, dilapidated house.

The next time I made it, it ended up staying in the oven for over three hours (not on purpose). You can see it here (and I’d be thrilled if you followed me on Instagram!). The third time, I substituted molasses for the honey, and the cake was so dark that it looked burnt even though it wasn’t. I wanted a nice orange color, at least on the inside of the cake, so I tried a fourth time. I loved the molasses flavor, so I used it in the glaze, along with some creme fraiche (my new favorite thing). Finally, I got a cake I loved! It’s still very moist, but it hasn’t fallen apart yet. The molasses cream and pecans really take it over the top. If you’re not a nut person, you could try adding a similar amount of chocolate chunks. I added them to the first batch and it was fabulous.

So, hopefully you’re not tired of pumpkin! I promise to feature a different main ingredient in my next recipe.

Grain-free Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream

September 9, 2013 By Becky 9 Comments

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Grain-free Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream (Gluten free, Nut free) | acalculatedwhisk.com

Treat yourself to small batch of paleo-friendly, grain-free vanilla bean cupcakes with mocha buttercream! They’re made with coconut flour, so they’re also nut free.

I’ve really been craving a classic vanilla cupcake recently, and wanted to try my hand at making grain-free vanilla bean cupcakes. To me, vanilla beans are the epitome of classic elegance in dessert flavor form. I ordered half a pound of vanilla beans online months ago, used half of them to make a bunch of little bottles of homemade vanilla extract (find out how to do that yourself here!), and still have a bunch left. I highly recommend ordering beans online in bulk, since it’s much more economical and they’re likely to be much fresher than overpriced grocery store beans.

These cupcakes are light and fluffy, because they’re made with coconut flour instead of almond flour. Of all the paleo & gluten-free treats I’ve made, these may be the closest in taste and texture to their gluten-laden cousins. I highly recommend them! They’re also perfect for people with nut allergies or for bringing to birthday celebrations in nut-free classrooms. This recipe makes a very small batch (good for people like me with no restraint), but can easily be doubled.

Caramel-Stuffed Snickerdoodles (Paleo, Gluten free)

September 2, 2013 By Becky Leave a Comment

Some people go crazy for snickerdoodles, but I’m not usually one of them. Snickerdoodles have a lot of cinnamon, which is nice, but they don’t have chocolate, caramel, or fruit. Usually I require one of those three things in order to truly fall in love with a dessert. Several weeks ago it occurred to me that snickerdoodles could be stuffed with caramel, and ever since I’ve been eager to try it. I’m not the first one to try stuffing caramel inside a snickerdoodle, but I think I’m the first to try a paleo and gluten free version.

I made this honey caramel yesterday to drizzle on top of an apple honey cake that I’m working on for Rosh Hashanah. The cake was delicious, but it still needs a little work. I had half of the honey caramel left (it wouldn’t all fit on top of the apple cake!) so I decided I needed to make the snickerdoodles.

These are easy to make (no creaming!) and fun to eat. Before the photo shoot, I tried two cookies, one straight from the oven and one after they’d cooled. (As a food blogger, I have to do these things. You know, for science.) Then, after I took my pictures, I had to eat all the cookies that had suffered casualties (been broken open) during the shoot. I had to drink all the milk, too, because it would have been really hard to pour it back in the carton without a funnel. The things I do for this blog! Anyway, it was a fabulous snack and I think you should make some today.

Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins (Gluten free, Paleo)

August 31, 2013 By Becky 28 Comments

These grain-free double chocolate zucchini muffins strike the perfect balance between healthy and indulgent eating.

It’s strange not to be getting a classroom set up this time of year. To get my classroom layout fix, I went to help my friend set up her room. She’ll be teaching kindergarten, and her space is amazing! Her classroom has its own coatroom with a full length cubby for each kid, plus a bathroom. The room has lots of windows on two sides, tons of built-in storage, and TWO sinks at the back–one kid height and one regular. On top of all that, the building is air conditioned! In six years of teaching, I definitely never had it that good.

Anyway, I wanted to bring something for me and my friend to snack on while we set up her classroom, and since I was going there mid-morning, I decided double chocolate zucchini muffins would be just the thing. I went with double chocolate muffins because what I really wanted was to make cupcakes. These are the perfect happy medium, and I snuck in a zucchini to make them extra moist and even more healthy.

A weird thing happened with these muffins. Let me know if you have any insights about this muffin mystery: when I tried a warm muffin before leaving the house, some of the muffin stuck to the paper liner. Not a ton, but a fair amount. I then wrapped some muffins in tinfoil to bring with me, but left the top of the tinfoil open since the muffins were still warm. At my friend’s school, the papers peeled off the muffins with virtually no crumbs attached–completely clean. The next morning, I expected the muffins I had left at home to do the same thing, since I assumed it was from cooling completely. But no! Crumb stuck on the liner again. So–did wrapping the bottoms of my muffins in tinfoil while they were still warm make the papers come off with no crumbs? If so, I might have to try that trick every time I make muffins or cupcakes! Any thoughts?

Anyway, on to the recipe. I hope these double chocolate zucchini muffins will help you strike the perfect breakfast balance.

If you’re looking for more amazing paleo muffins, check out the Papaya Pecan Muffins in my cookbook Paleo Planet. They’re on page 231!

Dutch Babies Brûlée (Paleo, Gluten free)

August 27, 2013 By Becky 6 Comments

It’s almost time for me to go back to school! This isn’t just any back-to-school, though, because after six years of leading my own classroom, I’m starting as a student again, working on a master’s in speech and language pathology. I have orientation next week, and classes start the week after that. Then, in October, I’ll start working with my very first client. It’s going to be different, and I’m relishing my last week of sleeping in and making myself (and Ben, on the days he works from home) a nice breakfast.

Almond Blueberry Pie Bars (Paleo, Gluten-free)

July 29, 2013 By Becky 2 Comments

One of my favorite recipes I’ve blogged about is almond blueberry pie bars. They are amazing: a rich, buttery crust, a smooth, custardy filling studded with juicy berries, and a crumbly topping with crisp sliced almonds. When my mom and I were trying to decide what to make to bring to our cousin’s wedding, these bars came to mind. I wondered if we could make a decent paleo version.

Luckily, the answer is yes! These bars are just as delicious as the original. They’re not exactly the same–this version has a soft buttery crust, whereas the others had a crunchier crust–but you won’t find me complaining. We brought a huge platter of these to the wedding, and they disappeared fast, devoured by gluten free eaters and non-restricted eaters alike. They are even more amazing with a scoop of vanilla ice cream–I recommend Blue Bell if you can get it.

It was a bit of an adventure baking these bars at my aunt’s apartment, because she does not have a real oven! I was nervous about using her combination (microwave and convection) oven, so I found the manual online and read the instructions carefully. I found that the bars browned VERY quickly, but were still not done in the center, so I covered them with foil for the rest of the baking time. You may or may not have that problem in a regular oven.

This was my first time using coconut flour and maple sugar, and I think they both worked very well in these bars. The coconut flour is very fine and created a nice smooth crust in combination with the almond flour. The maple sugar is granulated, so I didn’t have to worry about adjusting the proportions of ingredients in order to use a liquid sweetener. You won’t taste any more than a very faint tinge of maple flavor, and that’s really only if you’re looking for it. Enjoy!

Ingredients (adapted from Annie’s Eats; makes 36 small but thick bars):

For the crust and topping:

1 and 1/2 cups coconut flour
1 and 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons almond flour
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple sugar (granulated)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest of one lemon
18 tablespoons grass-fed cold butter
1 cup sliced almonds, lightly crushed

For the filling:

4 eggs
1 cup grass-fed milk or coconut milk
1 and 3/4 cup maple sugar
1/2 cup coconut flour
Juice of one lemon
1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 and 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 9×13 pan with tinfoil and grease it lightly. To make the crust, combine the flours, sugar, salt, and lemon zest in a food processor (or by hand in a large bowl). Cut the butter into cubes and pulse until the mixture is uniform. If you’re not using the food processor, it’s easiest to mix the dough with your hands. Reserve about 3/4 cup of the mixture to serve as the topping. Press the rest of it into an even layer in the bottom of the pan. Bake for about 12 minutes, until golden brown.

To make the topping, add the crushed sliced almonds to the reserved dough and mix until combined.

To make the filling, whisk together all ingredients except the blueberries until smooth. Gently stir in the blueberries.

When the crust is baked, let it cool for 10-15 minutes, leaving the oven on. Then, pour the filling over, sprinkle the topping evenly over the filling, and bake for about 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the middle is just set. Cool completely before cutting–it helps to put them in the refrigerator to firm up. Slice into squares or rectangles and enjoy!