Coconut cream? | Imamother

seeker

Tue, Oct 14 2014, 9:22 pm

Pursuant to my previous thread about healthy birthday cake: I learned that crisco is as bad as margarine, and discovered that coconut oil produces frosting of a lovely spreading texture but not good for piping. The coconutty flavor was quite nice but didn't match well with the apple-flavored cake, but that's a different story. So anyway, for next time I decided to try coconut cream instead of oil, and follow a different recipe (problem last time was that I didn't want to go shopping so I improvised.)

So I was in a large supermarket with a large selection and decided to look for some - next birthday is in just over a month, or I could do a trial first on some yomtov treat. All the coconut cream contains added sugar! Where do you healthy/natural/crunchy types get the stuff? what am I missing?

oliveoil

Tue, Oct 14 2014, 9:24 pm

you buy coconut milk, keep it in the fridge for 24 hours and when u open it, it will have separated into cream and "water". You scoop off the cream and go from there.

see here: http://ohsheglows.com/2012/08/.....rial/

MaBelleVie

Tue, Oct 14 2014, 9:26 pm

Not sure what you mean by coconut cream- I use the fat that separates and solidifies on the top of the can of coconut milk. If that's what you're referring to, there are brands that contain nothing but coconut. Here's an example: http://m.iherb.com/Edward-Sons.....w_wcB

seeker

Tue, Oct 14 2014, 9:32 pm

Well, I was reading this in a recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie blog:

"Healthy frosting recipe: Open your coconut milk, and if it's not already super-thick, leave the can (or transfer to a bowl) uncovered in the fridge overnight. Try not to shake the can too much before opening. It should get very, very thick. (If it doesn’t, you’ve gotten a bad can that won't work for the recipe. I recommend Thai Kitchen Organic. Hint: shake the can when you're at the store. If you can hear the liquidy contents swishing around, it's probably too thin to work for this recipe. Or if you want a no-fail option, buy coconut cream instead, at Trader Joes or an Asian market.)"

All the coconut milk cans were extremely swishy sounding in the store. I guess I need to try Trader Joe's?

ra_mom

Tue, Oct 14 2014, 9:43 pm

seeker wrote:

It is supposed to be liquid when you buy it. Refrigerating 24 hours will give you the results you need.
Purchase the canned Roland’s classic coconut milk. It is full fat and just what you need.

chani8

Tue, Oct 14 2014, 10:35 pm

Definitely search for the right brand of thick stuff.

If you want another option, we melt 85% chocolate bar with coconut cream (the stuff from the box, so it's not even so thick at first), whip while melting. Cool. Spread on cake. It's as thick as store bought frosting. We love this with mint extract added.

seeker

Wed, Oct 15 2014, 8:11 am

chani8 wrote:

WHAT coconut cream? That's my problem/question!

I don't remember seeing Roland. I was in the biggest supermarket I know of and they had about four or five different brands, was able to narrow down fairly easily because half had no hechsher, but they all looked about the same otherwise.

Will have to check out Trader Joe's after yomtov. Maybe they have something for me...

ra_mom

Wed, Oct 15 2014, 8:17 am

seeker wrote:

In BP you can get the Roland's at Gourmet Glatt, 55th Street Unity Fruit on New Utrecht...
Here is a pic of the can. It clearly has the OU symbol.
http://www.amazon.com/Roland-C.....+milk

seeker

Wed, Oct 15 2014, 11:49 am

Good to know. I guess I'll look for it next time I'm in Brooklyn. Or I can probably find it online somewhere.

Meanwhile, because they all seemed to be the same and I didn't know whether something else existed (though I had to assume it did because the kind of people I know who would use it would not be using added sugar!) I went ahead and bought a can of the suspicious looking coconut cream (ingredients: coconut, sugar, water, polysorbate 60, monostearate, salt, propylene glycol alginate, mono and diglycerides, citric acid, guar gum, locust bean gum - what a list! I thought it would be "coconut.") Think I can use it all the same to make some mousse for yomtov? I have been wanting to make a mousse for the longest time but other non-dairy recipes all use raw eggs or chemical whip, neither of which I use.

ra_mom

Wed, Oct 15 2014, 11:56 am

seeker wrote:

I buy the Cocoa Lopez cream of coconut for Pina Coladas. It doesn't separate like full fat coconut milk. It is not used the same way.
The ingredients are:
COCONUT MILK, SUGAR, WATER, POLYSORBATE 60, SORBITAN MONOSTEARATE, SALT, PROPYLENE GLYCOL ALGINATE, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES (EMULSIFIERS), CITRIC ACID, GUAR GUM, LOCUST BEAN GUM.
(Sorry for caps, I copied and pasted.)

ra_mom

Wed, Oct 15 2014, 12:29 pm

seeker wrote:

Yes, that's what I bought. Can I use it to make something creamy like mousse or frosting?

It would probably make a nice glaze/frosting. You can add some ingredients to your liking.

seeker

Wed, Oct 15 2014, 12:57 pm

chocolate moose wrote:

I made chocolate mousse today; refrigerated a can of Roland's coconut milk and then added cocoa powder and some sugar and rum. It was really good!

That's what I want to do when I can get some, but right now what I have is that Coco Lopez stuff. What can I make out of it?

mandksima

Thu, Oct 16 2014, 2:34 pm

I find cans of Taste of Asia brand here- no added sugar, just fattier/thicker than coconut milk. Maybe try an Asian import store?

I use it all of the time. It makes great chocolate mousse. I make a gluten free/sugar free healthy pie crust and fill it with the simple mousse. 1 1/2 bars chocolate (the darker the better but if you are not used to it, the darker ones are not as sweet, I use 60% for guests and it is sweet enough but I prefer 70-85% for myself), melted and cooled slightly, add in one can slowly and whisk continuously until completely mixed. Pour into crust and let set (best overnight as it takes a while to get to a solid form where you can slice it up.) You can marble a design on top with 1/4 C maple syrup and 2 T cocoa before setting as well.

I do make a cream layer for cakes as well with the coconut cream - just add sweetener if it doesn't have any and whip only the solid part in the can after it has been completely chilled. It will probably take 2 cans to frost a cake but the rest of the more liquidy part of the cans can be used as coconut milk in any pareve milk substitution.

cbsp

Sat, Oct 18 2014, 6:16 pm

seeker wrote:

Yes, that's what I bought. Can I use it to make something creamy like mousse or frosting?

Maybe this will be helpful for you (it compares coconut milk vs coconut cream vs cream of coconut):

"http://asiansupper.com/theslurp/what’s-difference-coconut-milk-vs-coconut-cream-vs-coconut-water"

(Copy and paste the link inside the double quotes cuz the imamother auto link got confused by the single quote as did tinyurl)

Bottom line, cream of coconut is not the same as coconut cream

seeker

Sat, Oct 18 2014, 9:17 pm

Thanks for the link. I already realized that cream of coconut is not coconut cream, but the thing is I own it already, what can I do with it now? It seems from this link that since it is basically similar to coconut cream plus sugar, maybe I can in fact make mousse with it by leaving out or using less sugar? Yknow since it's here already I think I will just go ahead and try it and let y'all know what happens. Worst case scenario I'll have something sweet and chocolatey and coconutty with possibly a horrible texture, how bad can that be???