I have been dying to try coconut flour as an alternative flour for quite some time. Coconut flour is actually the dehydrated white meat from the coconut. The milk is separated from the meat and the meat is then dried until it reaches to a powder like consistency. One day whilst perusing my favourite gourmet grocer’s shop, LevelUp Supplement Store, I found my beloved alternative on the shelf and at a discounted sale price too! Of course I bought it and took it home with me. I could not wait to get to my kitchen as I was already day dreaming about what to create with this new fascination. I found a plethora of recipes online. I also found more information on the benefits of coconut flour. These included aiding metabolism, high fiber content, low glycemic properties as well as helping with digestion and cholesterol levels.
However, I needed to integrate the taste of the coconut flour into my regular diet with my West Indian palate. It is quite unusual that one would find someone who associates feelings with food. Nevertheless, I am one of those who attaches profound sentiments to food; flavor, appearance and scent. So coconut flour evokes happy feelings for me with immediate vibes of the tropics and breezy days. Chocolate chip cookies are also very comforting for me. So I decided to stick to one recipe and make some mini coconut chocolate chip cookies. These would be gluten free so I can definitely eat as much as I wanted without a care in the world! The reason I chose to do mini versions was purely because I had never worked with coconut flour so I did not know if I would like the end result. Of course they puffed up like mini muffins and so I decided the appropriate term for this recipe should end in muffins rather than cookies. I am also one who does not give up so I tried this same recipe again with a regular sized cupcake pan and I acquired a flatter cookie. I loved both versions but I prefer the bite size ones more!!!
See my recipe below.
Coconut Chocolate Chip Muffins (Minis)
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 teaspoon almond essence
2 eggs
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
20 mini cupcake liners
Method
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
- Mix the dry ingredients; coconut flour, sugar
- Mix the wet ingredients; almond essence, eggs, oil
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until well combined
- Add chocolate chips and fold the mixture
- Set liners in mini cupcake or mini muffin tin
- Add 1 tablespoon of mix to each liner
- Any extra batter can be spooned into the cups
- Smooth out the surface of the batter in each cup (to look fairly even)
- Place the tray in the pre-heated oven and bake for ten minutes
- Allow to cool for ten minutes and then enjoy!
N.B.
- They are great to serve at your next brunch or cocktail party.
- If you prefer a healthier cookie substitute sugar for maple syrup and the oil for coconut oil.
- This same mixture can be used to make coconut chocolate chip cookies. Substitute the mini pan and mini liners for regular cupcake pan of 12 servings with regular sized liners. Spread out each mixture in the liner to be even. Bake them and when you are ready to eat them peel off the liner.