Following a low-carb diet can be hard, and at times leave you feeling deprived of some of your favorite comfort foods.  I have always had a sweet tooth, so for me, finding lower carbohydrate/sugar alternatives to my favorite baked goods has been a down-right mission!  After carousing a few Paleo-friendly cooking websites, I started to notice that many of the baking recipes shared a common ingredient: coconut flour.  I had never really heard of coconut flour before a few days ago, so when I began doing a little online research, I was pleased to see the healthy benefits that switching to coconut flour could have in my recipes.

What is coconut flour?

After reading on a few Paleo websites that coconut flour was a high-fiber, gluten free alternative to using white or wheat flour, I decided to go buy some for myself.  Although I was unable to find it at my regular grocery store, I did find it at the first “health” food/supplement store I went to  not far from my house.  You can also find it at Whole Foods.  I purchased a 16oz bag of Bob’s Red Mill Organic Coconut Flour. Although it was pricey at $9 for the small bag, I was intrigued enough to give it a shot.  Right on the front of the bag it states:

“Coconut flour is a delicious, healthy alternative to wheat and other grain flours.  It is very high in fiber, low in digestible carbohydrates and gluten-free.  It lends baked goods an incomparably rich texture and a unique, natural sweetness.”

The ingredient list has only one, which is organic coconut.  Pretty much, coconut flour is just dried, ground-up coconut meat.  It actually smelled sweet from the package, which is most likely because coconut contains natural sugar.  It is cream in color, like pure coconut.  Actually try to avoid buying coconut flour that is pure white, which means it is processed.

Nutrition Comparisons

So the package says its high fiber and lower in digestible carbohydrates, but let’s take a look at how it compares to white and whole wheat flour.

1 Cup White flour

• kcals- 455
• fat- 1.2g
• carbohydrates- 95g
• protein- 12.9g
• fiber- 3.4g
• sugar- 0.3g

1 Cup Wheat flour

• kcals- 400
• fat- 2g
• carbohydrates- 84g
• protein- 16g
• fiber- 12g
• sugar- 1g

1 Cup Coconut Flour

• kcals- 480
• fat- 12g
• carbohydrates- 80g
• protein- 16g
• fiber- 48g
• sugar- 1g

By examining each if the three different flours, a few things stands out.  They do not differ too vastly in carbohydrates, sugar, protein and calories… however, the coconut flour has 4x more fiber than the wheat flour, and 16x more fiber than the white!  That means that there are a lot less digestible carbohydrates in the coconut flour compared to the others and that eating recipes made with coconut flour will help you stay fuller longer.

Another huge benefit of using coconut flour is that recipes call for two-thirds less than its counterparts.  This means that in comparison, we can actually take our numbers for the coconut flour and slash them by two-thirds, producing a significantly lower calorie and carbohydrate yield.  For example, if using regular flour for a batch of a dozen muffins called for 1 1/2 C wheat or white flour, you could substitute in only 1/2 C coconut flour for the same yield.  This is because coconut flour absorbs more liquid while baking, thus requiring less to be used.  Coconut flour tends to produce a denser baked good, so most recipes will call for more eggs or liquid to compensate.

2/3 Cup Coconut Flour:

• kcals- 160
• fat- 4g
• carbohydrates- 26g
• protein- 5g
• fiber- 16g
• sugar- 0g

So the nutrition line-up looks great, but this is all useless information if the food you make with the coconut flour doesn’t take delicious!  So last night I decided to take a look in my pantry and see what I could whip up.  Since I had a can of organic pumpkin, pumpkin muffins it was!  Below is the recipe I used:

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

• 1/2 C coconut flour
• 5 large eggs
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 can pure unsweetened pumpkin
• 1-2 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp honey + 4 packets Truvia

Combine all my ingredients in a large bowl and blend together until smooth.  Fill 12 muffin tins to the top with the mixture.  Bake on 400 F for approximately 15-20 minutes or until center in baked fully thru.

My finished product turned out so yummy.  I decided to top my muffins with a little truvia/cinnamon for the last few minutes of baking to give a little extra sweetened to the top, which is why some parts in the picture look darker. They turned out moist, sweet and had a wonderful texture and flavor.  The best part is, you really DO NOT have to feel guilty about eating these sweet treats since each muffin has approximately 100 calories, 7.5g carb, 4g protein, 3g fiber and 2.5g sugar.  To make this recipe even healthier, you can substitute the butter for applesauce, but since this was my first coconut flour attempt I decided subbing the Truvia and flour was enough.

Hope this information is helpful and feel free to share your favorite modified recipes.  Would love to try some! Visit http://www.bobsredmill.com/organic-coconut-flour-mtx6135.html to purchase coconut flour and for more recipes.

Mahalo for reading & happy eating