• Coconut flour is a versatile alternative in gluten-free cooking.coconut image by Ivonne Wierink from Fotolia.com
  
  Coconut flour is made from coconut meat after all the coconut oil has been removed. Coconut flour has a mild coconut flavor and is slightly sweet since it contains natural sugars. Coconut flour is often a replacement for wheat in gluten-free cooking since it is high in fiber and protein. In fact, at 58 percent fiber, coconut flour has more fiber than other gluten-free grains. Coconuts and coconut flour are also good alternatives to other common food allergens such as peanuts, soy, and milk.
  
  

Baking: Sweet

• Because it is naturally sweet, coconut flour lends itself to baked sweets such as cookies, muffins, pie crusts and cakes. Many recipes use coconut flour, especially those for people with celiac disease or people with other wheat sensitivities. However, you can also substitute 10 to 20 percent of wheat-based flours in any recipe with coconut flour without compromising the flavor or texture of the original recipe.
  
  

Baking: Savory

• The natural sweetness and flavor of coconut flour is subtle enough that you can also use it when baking savory items such as cheese scones, cornbread and vegetable breads. For items that are themselves delicate in flavor, only substitute a portion of the original flour with coconut flour. For example, chive scones made with 20 percent coconut flour are indistinguishable from scones made with the original recipe.
  
  

Cooking

• When cooking, add coconut flour to thicken sauces, gravies and stocks as an alternative to flour. Tomato-based dishes are particularly good bases for coconut oil since the sweet acidity of the tomatoes pairs nicely with the mild coconut flavor. Always make a test batch when trying out a new recipe since not only does coconut flour taste slightly different than other flours, its higher fiber content may react differently than traditional flours.
  
  

Egg Dishes

• Recipes that use eggs as the primary ingredients, such as souffles, custards or even pancakes and waffles turn out just as well with coconut flour as they do with traditional flours or thickeners. Unlike other gluten-free fibers (for example, buckwheat), coconut flour does not overpower the egg flavor, nor does it weigh down whipped eggs. Coconut flour may absorb more liquid than other flours, so watch your dishes closely and add more water or oil if necessary.