Veganizing: Coconut Secret Product Review

Coconut Secret Product Review

I was delighted to receive a package in the mail from Coconut Secret this week! Zoe was very helpful in setting me up with a sample package and I received it quite quickly. Thanks, Zoe! If you have ever thought coconuts were only used in the form of coconut milk or shredded coconut, think again (have you ever heard of coconut aminos, coconut vinegar, coconut nectar?)! Coconut Secret is a company that has done amazing things with coconut trees as a whole. Their story is quite incredible and their website www.coconutsecret.com is loaded with interesting information about the wealth of this fruit! Coconut Secret's products are all grown without pesticides or herbicides and are made in small batches on family farms - doesn't that sound like a company you would like to support?! In addition to these important factors, all of Coconut Secret's products are GMO-free, Raw, Vegan, and Gluten-free! I have been experimenting with the Coconut Flour and Coconut Crystals and and loving the newness of these ingredients in my vegan kitchen! You will not want to miss out on visiting the Coconut Secret website and trying some of their inovative and delicious products. I have been experimenting with the Coconut Crystals and Coconut Flour and have found a couple of really yummy recipes. I have found that I prefer to combine the coconut flour with another type of flour for the best consistency. However, for purely gluten-free dishes, the use of coconut flour on it's own is still quite delicious - the consistency, however, is different. I made a muffin recipe (below) using 100% coconut flour and the muffins were very soft and almost gooey. They tasted yummy, with a bit of a tang to the flavor but they were not as dense as normal muffins. My gluten-intolerant father-in-law enjoyed them! When I made a recipe that combined the coconut flour with white flour and oats, the consistency was melt-in-your-mouth perfection! The coconut crystals are a fairly dark brown hue and I used them in place of brown sugar in the cookie recipe - fabulous results!I am looking forward to using Coconut Secret products a lot from here on out! Thanks again, Zoe, for sharing these products with me!

Coconut Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
Egg substitute for 3 eggs
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons coconut milk
3 tablespoons liquid sorghum
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup sifted Coconut Secret coconut Flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup chocolate chips
½ cup chopped pecans
Method
Blend together eggs, butter, coconut milk, sorghum, salt and vanilla. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and thoroughly mix into batter until there are no lumps. Pour batter into greased muffin cups. Bake at 400F for 15 minutes. Makes 6 muffins.

Coconut Crystals

Craisin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from 500 Vegan Recipes)
1 cup flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats

1 cup Coconut Secret coconut flour

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1/2 cup nondairy butter

1/2 cup canola oil

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup Coconut Secret coconut crystals

1/4 cup brown rice syrup

3/4 cup plain soy yogurt

1 t vanilla extract

1/2 t salt

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup nondairy chocolatechips

Preheat oven to 350. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix together flours, oats, baking soda and baking powder. In a separate bowl, combine butter, oil, sugars, brown rice syrup, vanilla, yogurt, and salt. Combine wet ingredients with dry. Fold in cranberries and chocolate chips. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough on prepared cookie sheet. Bake 12 min.

1 comment:

AlyNovember 8, 2010 at 9:40 AM
Coconuts are the bomb! I substitute regular sugar for coconut sugar in all my baking recipes and they come out great.
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"Buttermilk" Blueberry Pancakes

Egg replacement for 1 egg
1 1/4 cups soured soy milk (put 2 T vinegar into a 2 cup glass measuring cup. Add enough soy milk to equal 1 1/4 cups)
2 T canola oil
1 cup flour (I wouldn't recommend whole wheat or whole wheat pastry - it really takes away from the fluffiness of these pancakes)
1 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
Blueberries, optional

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Heat griddle pour about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Sprinkle blueberries on pancakes after ladling onto griddle. Cook just until golden on both sides.

Veggie Seitan Lo Mein

I really did my own thing for this recipe so I am just going to outline the instructions and include the sauce recipe. I heated oil in a large skillet and added 3 minced cloves of garlic and about 1 cup of half-moon cut onions (I was out of green onions but next time I would use green onions as I like them a lot in Chinese food) and about 1 cup matchstick-cut carrots. After about 5-6 minutes, I added about 1/4 lb of whole green beans. I cooked these veggies until tender. Meanwhile, I cooked a 16oz package of chow mein noodles. Once the veggie mixture was cooked, I poured the sauce on the veggies, heated through and tossed with the noodles. Next time I would double the amount of sauce and have adjusted amounts below to reflect double recipe.

Sauce (Source:Adaptable Feast)
3 T soy sauce
3 T rice wine (I used 3 T rice vinegar and 1 t sugar as I didn't have any rice wine)
3 t sugar
4 T black bean garlic sauce
Mix all ingredients and toss with above mixture.

Chinese Broccoli Wontons in Ginger Soy Broth (Source: Vegan Yum Yum)

(As usual, I modified several things so it's not exactly the recipe in Vegan Yum Yum!)

1 cup chopped broccoli
3/4 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1 T oil
1 t fresh ginger, minced
1 clove fresh minced garlic
1/2 t hot chili sauce (such as Sriracha)
1 t hot Chinese mustard
2 T plus 1 t soy sauce
4 cups water ( I think this might have been more flavorful had I used vegetable broth or faux chicken broth???)
6 slices fresh ginger
1 T mirin (I used a splash of cooking wine as I didn't have mirin)
1 1/2 t sugar
2 t rice vinegar
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup chopped scallions
16 wonton skins

For filling: Heat oil in skillet and add broccoli, ginger, garlic, carrot, onion and cook until veggies are crisp tender. Add chili sauce, mustard, 1 t soy sauce and stir to combine. Remove from heat and set aside.

To make wontons, take one skin and place in diamond shape. Fill with 1-2 t filling. Fold in half to make a triangle and moisten edges with water and pinch sides to seal. Set triangle in front of you with point up and take the 2 side points and bring them together in front to cross. Set aside and prepare remaining wontons. When finished, place wontons in a steamer basket and steam over pot of boiling water until translucent.

Meanwhile, in a pot, combine remaining ingredients (except wontons) and simmer 10-15 min.

Place 3-4 wontons in bowl and ladle broth over wontons. Serve.

Pumpkin Bread

The vegan version!

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1 cup solid pack pumpkin puree
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup soured soymilk (add 1 T vinegar to your half cup measure and fill the rest with soymilk
egg replacement for 1 egg
2 T vegan margarine

Preheat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients together and set aside. Mix wet ingredients and stir into dry until incorporated. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake 45-1 hr or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Whole Wheat Batter Bread

2 1/2 cups warm water
2 packages active dry yeast
1/4 cup honey (or agave)
6 cups whole wheat pastry flour
4 t salt
4 T non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening

Dissolve yeast in water. Add honey, half of flour, salt and shortening. Beat 2 min o med speed of mixer, scraping sides of bowl frequently. Blend in remaining flour until smooth. Scrape sides of bowl. Cover with damp cloth and let rise in warm place until doubled in size - about 30 min. Stir down by beting 25 strokes. Shape nad place in 2 greased 9in loaf pans. Smooth tops with floured hand. Let rise again for about 40 min. Bake in 350 degree oven for 40-45 min or until browned and cooked through.