Coconut Oil

I’m always amazed at how much I learn from my public speaking engagements as well as private clients.  Recently I spoke at a school, and afterward had a fascinating conversation which led me to seek out my latest ingredient of choice:  Coconut oil.

I had learned that coconut oil was the only plant source of dietary cholesterol–not true!  Not only is coconut oil cholesterol free, but it is made up of Medium Chain Triglycerides or MCT’s, which make a bee-line from our GI tract to our liver, requiring no bile salts to digest them, and are used as energy.  According to some brief research, coconut oil appears to be protective of liver health, boosts our immune system and increases the efficiency of our metabolism.  All good things!

As often is the case when I learn about an unfamiliar ingredient, especially if it has numerous health benefits, I start thinking of ways to use it.  Anyway I was sold, not to mention curious, so I picked up a jar of the stuff the next time I went grocery shopping.  It has the lovely and delicate aroma of fresh coconuts and a pearly white appearance.  I’ve been experimenting with it when I make anything from Brownies (check out the recipe I’ve posted!) to sauteed shrimp and haven’t been disappointed so far.  If anything, I’ve been inspired to continue experimenting!  On this cold night in Southeast Michigan, I’m tempted to see what happens when I use it to make popcorn.  I’ll let you know how it turns out…

Black Bean Brownies

Black Bean Brownies

½ cup Cocoa Powder

½ cup Butter or Margarine

2 cups White sugar

1 cup Black beans, cooked and pureed

4 ea Eggs

2/3 cup All purpose flour

¼ Tbs Salt

½ tsp Baking powder

Mix first 5 ingredients until well blended. Sift together the next three ingredients and stir into mixture. Grease a 9×13 inch sized sheet pan and pour the batter into the pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (320 if using a convection oven) for 25 minutes or until done (toothpick inserted into the middle should come out clean).

If you divide the baked brownies into 12 equal pieces, the nutrition per serving is:

274 calories, 10 g Fat; 6 g saturated fat; 91 mg cholesterol; 244 mg sodium; 44g carbohydrates; 3 g fiber; 5 g Protein.

Notes from Karin’s kitchen:

These are really good. The texture is somewhere between cakey and fudgey, and they are about 1-2 inches thick, but nice and chocolatey and moist. I pureed the heck out of the black beans to make sure I didn’t have any whole beans left, and it was very smooth, like the consistency of hummous. To help make a smooth puree, I added two of the four eggs to the food processor. I also tried this recipe using coconut oil in place of the butter to reduce the cholesterol amount, and it had a slight coconut flavor but not overwhelmingly so.