I love the trick of making coconut butter from desiccated coconut. Quite in awe of the magic! Coconut butter cups are an easy, yummy solution if you
- want a treat but don’t want to cook
- want to up your healthy fats
- want to boost your immune system
- want an anti fungal from nature
- want to cut sugar
- want a treat that will stave OFF hunger, rather than promoting it – PERFECT for after school hungry hoards!
- trying to avoid chocolate (I know, I know but some people have to, so if that’s you: hello!)
A word on making coconut butter: A tip from my friend Kate is that if your desiccated coconut doesn’t turn to butter, it’s the brand / type. This is true as there are non fat really airy / fluffy types and types that are visibly thicker / richer looking and tasting. It comes down to the processing. For a few Australian brand references, I use NiuLife desiccated coconut and it works perfectly but in the past, Honest to Goodness brand and Wholefoods House brand both don’t – not saying they’re bad brands at all, just not a high enough fat content to turn to coconut butter. Shredded coconut from Loving Earth works too. The main thing to be aware of is that you don’t buy one with preservative 220 / 223 in it!
You can then vary this with cacao in there, other sweet spices, vanilla bean, a little extra sweetness like maple / honey / rice malt – BUT remember we’re trying to cut out superfluous sugars so why not work to not needing it some days and enjoying the natural flavour of stuff unsweetened? It’s your recipe, not mine really – this is just a base idea that I enjoy so I look forward to your ideas too!
Let me know how you go and don’t forget to hashtag #lowtoxlife on instagram if you pop your pic there!
No Bake Coconut Butter Cups Recipe
Ingredients
Equipment Needed
- 1 Thermomix or a sturdy food processor
- Mini cup cake cases
Main Ingredients
- 250 g desiccated or shredded coconut
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon*
- 1 tsp linseeds
- 1 tsp chia seeds (omit if sensitive to them)
- 24 incaberries (could use any other dried berry, but keeping sugar low, I’ve used inca)
- 1/2 cup frozen berries you could instead top with more dried berries if you wanted to add more sweetness – let’s say for people who are used to very sweet things and trying to cut excessive sugars in their daily foods that would be a great first step.
Instructions
- Pour your desiccated coconut into your food processor or Thermomix. For TM, blend on speed 10, 2 minutes. Scrape down bowl and blend a further minute until a smooth purée. For food processor, blend for as many minutes as it takes – can take up to 15 minutes in less powerful models. Patience my friend!
- Now pour out your coconut butter into a bowl and add everything except the topping. Mix well.
- Now spoon into your cupcake cases about half way up, ensuring a couple of incaberries / dried berries in each one.
- Top with garnish
- Pop in freezer for ten minutes minimum to enjoy.
- If you’re going to pop them in the freezer for longer and eat later, just pull them out 10 minutes before you want to eat one.
- Voila!
