Social Kitchen

I know, people.  I know what you’re thinking.  I’ve been a bit berry happy this summer.  And if not with berries, I’ve certainly incorporated fresh summer fruits in just about everything that I’ve posted lately.  But this post is trying to fool you!  It’s not at all about the summer produce!  You can substitute frozen berries when they’re no longer in season.  I’m letting you do that!  Because this, my friends, is about the coconut flour.

Coconut flour is my latest obsession.  I first used it in a gluten free cake recipe, and it was divine.  Ingenious, really.  Because it took this plain cake and turned it into a coconut cake without the fuss of a coconut syrup, coconut extract, coconut rum or coconut custard.  And that’s just plain amazing – I say this from experience.  Coconut flour basically just tastes like dried up coconut, but looks like a flour and has flour-like abilities.  If it had its own wikipedia page, I’d really be able to confirm what it is.

What I do know is that the coconut flour puts a slightly sweet and unique spin on the regular ol’ cobbler, which you’re probably tired of making this late in the game.  So go track some down, whip it out and allow yourself to be swept away on this new-found journey with coconut flour!  The possibilities are endless.

Coconut Pecan Berry Cobbler (adapted from Simply Recipes)

The drawback to the coconut flour is that it is expensive…and hard to find.  So because I don’t really understand what it is quite yet, I suggest the following: use regular all-purpose flour to replace the coconut flour.  And for the coconut, grind up shredded coconut to a powder until you have 1/4 cup.  And use just the regular shredded coconut, unground, for the other 1/4 cup.  And then throw in another handful of the shredded coconut for good measure.

Filling –

4 cups mixed berries (I used a mix of strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries), fresh or frozen

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp. granulated sugar

1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp. instant tapioca

Topping –

1/2 cup coconut flour (see headnote)

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

4 tbsp. butter, softened

Preheat oven to 375.  Mix together all of the ingredients of the filling and pour into an ungreased 8×8 or equivalent sized baking dish.  To make the topping, stir together all of the dry ingredients.  Add the butter and rub into the dry ingredients.  Sprinkle the topping on to the filling in the prepared pan.  Bake for 35 minutes until the topping has turned golden brown.  Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes and then serve.

This entry was posted on August 25, 2011 at 9:09 am and is filed under fruit, sweet, Uncategorized.