Finally! Easy Coconut Milk

I absolutely love coconut milk. As a fan of regular old cow's milk, you might wonder why I would even bother. And yet, it makes a lot of sense. If you're trying to make the switch away from dairy or carbs for whatever reason, coconut milk makes for a pretty easy switch. It's rich and creamy, which means that it feels like you're drinking whole milk. It has some saturated fat, but it's the good medium-chain saturated fats that experts believe may boost your metabolism. Plus, unsweetened coconut milk has no sugar in it. None. Unlike the 8 grams you'll get in a cup of cow's milk.

You may know by now that I love to make things myself, whenever I can. Some alternate milks (I'm looking at you, almond) may not be cheaper to make it yourself. But coconut milk made at home can save you a bundle, and give you a useful by-product while you're at it. Plus it tastes a whole lot better. If you've had store-bought coconut milk, chances are it has carageenan in it. I'm not sure what I think about the rumors that carageenan causes cancer, but there are other reasons to avoid it as an ingredient in your milk of choice. It stabilizes the milk so the fat does not separate. But at the same time, it adds a somewhat slimy texture. I didn't notice it years ago when I went DF for awhile and bought the coconut milk. But now that I know the difference, I want the unadulterated coconut milk.

The thing about making your own coconut milk is that most recipes don't take your blender into consideration. Believe me, it matters. If you have a Vitamix like mine, which has a wand, you can make it more efficiently than the average instructions. And if you have a dirt-cheap mixer you bought when you were 18, you need to follow different directions as well. They may tell you that you have to soak or boil your coconut first. You don't. Try my instructions, and see how it works for you.

Let's get started! First you need to get your tools together. Pictured is my blender carafe (Vitamix), a four-cup measure, a half-cup measure, a fine mesh strainer and a spoon. Not pictured (d'oh!) is a small bowl to collect the coconut fiber, and something airtight to store the milk in once you're done.

The first thing you want to do is scoop the unsweetened dried coconut into the carafe. You want 1/2-3/4 of a cup, depending on how creamy you want the finished product. Note: I have made sweetened coconut milk this way using sweetened dried coconut. If you don't care what sweetener you use, you can do it that way. It actually makes the coconut milk perfectly sweet, not overdone. If you have a Vitamix like I do, you can leave the coconut dry. If not, add a cup or so of hot water. Mix on high for a minute or two (which is longer than it sounds).

When you're done, it will look nice and pasty. Now, add water. If you blended the coconut dry, add four cups. If you added water to the last step, add three cups. Whether the water must be hot depends on the power of your blender. With a Vitamix or a BlendTec or something similar, it can be cold or room-temperature water. Once you've added the water, blend on high for at least three minutes.

Now it's ready to strain. Pour the contents of the blender out over your mesh strainer, which should be positioned over a measuring cup of at least four cups.

As you pour in the liquid, the strainer will catch the excess coconut fiber. Use the spoon to help the liquid pass, and squeeze out the milk from the fiber.

If the strainer gets full, scoop out the fiber and put it in a bowl.

 Once you've gone through all the contents of the blender, you'll have 3.5-4 cups of coconut milk. I like to store mine in a Mason jar in the fridge. It will stay good in the fridge for several days. What's left in the bowl is awesome, as well. That technically is coconut flour, before it has been dried. If you want to dry the coconut fiber into coconut flour, you can put it on a pan and roast it in the oven at 200 degrees F until it's dry. Then you can spin it in your food processor and store it that way. Otherwise, I just store it in the fridge until I have a good opportunity to use it. The wet coconut "flour" is an excellent way to make my fabulous Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Brownies.

So that's all it takes! Depending on where you get your coconut, this can be a reasonable deal or an excellent deal. The most I've paid for coconut is about $6/lb. One pound of dried coconut makes about four quarts of coconut milk, with probably 1-1.5 cups of the wet coconut fiber leftover. But I've easily found it for half the price as well. Just shop around and you'll find something. No matter what, when you compare it to $3+ for a half-gallon in the stores, you'll be spending much less to make it from home. Enjoy!

Homemade Coconut Milk
1/2-3/4 cup unsweetened dried coconut
4 cups water

Put coconut in a dry blender. Add one cup of (hot) water as necessary. Blend on high until dried coconut has a pasty consistency. Then, add water to a total of four cups. Blend on high for at least three minutes. Pour contents of blender through a fine mesh strainer into a medium-size bowl or large measuring cup. Reserve excess coconut fiber for other uses. Pour strained coconut milk into airtight container, store in the fridge.

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free Brownies

 
I know what you're thinking. You saw "gluten-free" and thought that the whole manner of this blog had gone awry. These are bound to taste terrible, right? Or they'll be sweet and chocolatey but have the vague taste of beans that most GF flours have, right? Wrong. These brownies are so freaking delicious you'll be eating them hand over fist. And I would not be able to keep my foodie badge if I wasn't interested in trying some interesting substitutions. So let's get to it!

It starts with a very interesting fundamental observation I have made. Cocoa powder is awesome. It has a great deal of fiber, but is comparatively low in carbohydrates. In some recipes, it can mimic flour. In some recipes, it can replace flour. But let me back up a bit. For awhile now, I have been making my own coconut milk. Every time I did, I ended up with about a half-cup of wet coconut fiber that just sat in my fridge until I threw it into some muffin recipe or into a smoothie. Little did I know that coconut flour is nothing more than that wet coconut fiber, dried in the oven on a low temperature.

I have a hard time trusting GF flours. It's mostly that I want to be able to make it myself. So coconut flour I had already made seemed like a sure bet. If you have ever read about coconut flour, you probably know that it absorbs a lot of liquid. I have a bit of a trick to get out of this mess: don't dry it out in the first place. If it's already soaked, it won't absorb as much. So it is with this recipe.

All right, back to our love of cocoa powder. To test out my coconut flour, I needed a recipe that called for comparatively little flour, so I wouldn't have to do a lot of additions. I find that this recipe from Alton Brown is inspired. 1.25 cups of cocoa powder, and 0.5 cup of all-purpose. SUBSTITUTION: I used the wet "coconut flour" in place of the AP. In retrospect, I could probably have just used more cocoa powder. But there you have it.

So you start out as you usually would, creaming the oil and sugar together. SUBSTITUTION: I used 8 oz of EVCO instead of butter. I'm using sugar according to the recipe, but you could make your substitutions here as necessary. I've used turbinado sugar (spun finer in my Vitamix) with fine results. If you want to use a liquid sweetener such as maple syrup or honey, you may need to tweak the dry ingredients to get the right consistency. Then add the eggs and mix for 30 seconds or so. Now is also a good time to preheat your oven to 300.

I just dumped in the coconut flour and the vanilla right after.

Then it's time to get the dry ingredients. Cocoa powder and salt, that's it. You don't need any chemical leavening for this recipe, which is pretty awesome.

Mix it together until you get a pretty thick consistency. Feel free to add more cocoa powder if necessary, but I wouldn't go too crazy.

Now to get it in the pan. I use a cupcake tin. And really, that is a genius idea. You get the lovely crusty edges all the way around the brownie, and it's easy to get out of the pan. Spray or oil the tin, and use a scoop to put the batter in. Looks fantastic, doesn't it? Just wait until it's done.

Now take a look at THAT.

Fabulous, isn't it? I love that I get a fantastically chewy brownie that has no flour and no dairy in it. If you feel like the coconut flavor is a little strong (which is not my problem, but it bothers some people), use coconut oil that doesn't have coconut flavor to it.

Wet Ingredients

1 cup sugar, sifted
1 cup brown sugar, sifted
8 ounces EVCO

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/3-1/2 cup wet "coconut flour"

Dry Ingredients

1 3/4 cups cocoa, sifted
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Cream first wet ingredients, add the remaining wet ingredients. Incorporate dry ingredients. Mix until consistency is thick. Scoop into oiled cupcake tin and bake for 30-35 minutes.