DebbyK’s Creamy Coconut Butter

Hey Your Fit Day Friends!

Do you cling to smells from childhood that make you feel good? I do. I’ve always loved the smells of vanilla, mint, and cocoa. So much so that as I got older they just became my go-t0 scents. For instance, as a child my favorite ice cream was mint chocolate chip. And then when I got older and ditched the ice cream I started chewing Extra™  Peppermint gum.  It was the only gum I would chew, and I’m still chewing. I’m addicted. It’s that sweet mint-vanilla-y flavor that I can’t live without.

And around the same time, I started wearing Palmersâ„¢ cocoa butter, as well as vanilla scented oils.

Put the three together and I was a like a walking piece of Good and Plentyâ„¢ candy wrapped up in a cinnamon bun! Mmmm!

Good and Plenty Candy
Five Cents was all it cost for an aphrodisiac!

Then I started noticing how I was attracting people like flies on a strips because of how I smelled. Random guys in the gym would say I smelled sweet, like a mint chip cookie, cinnamon muffins, or peppermint candies.

And one time I was in the huge shoe department at Macy’s, in San Francisco, where the same sort of thing happened. Two women strolled by me and stopped at the same display I was perusing. And as soon as they were right next to me one of them said to her friend “hey, I smell chocolate chip cookies baking, let’s go to where they are and get us some”. Hmmm, I couldn’t smell any chocolate chip cookies baking, and neither could my girlfriend. So I looked over at them and said “I’m sorry, but I think your chocolate chip cookie is me!”. Well, apparently I wasn’t quite the chip they were looking for and off they left, in a huff, determined to find their cookie.

Here’s what I’m talking about

What’s your reaction when you open up a jar of vanilla beans and taken a whiff? Or how about when you walk into a home and smell a cake baking, or even better, when you open up the door and take a whiff straight from the oven.   Drives you crazy, right? Well, it makes me feel like I just want to bake a batch of mom’s chocolate chip cookies, brownies or some pumpkin pie right this minute.  Wanna know why? Well, smells bring back memories. It’s true. And it gets better. It turns out certain smells stimulate sexual arousal in us.  I mean, the title of this book says it all…  Scentsational Sex: The Secret to Using Aroma for Arousal . I haven’t read it yet, but I just ordered it from Amazon. And I’ll be sure to have a cup of vanilla tea in hand when I read it. And I’m hoping that I can get back to you with rave reviews too, if you get what I mean! (Please note that I make a small commission on the sale of this book).

According to Dr. Alan Hirsch, the neurological director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, men are attracted to olfactory memories and of smells like licorice and doughnuts, pumpkin pie with doughnuts, cinnamon buns, buttered popcorn, and the list of sweetness goes on.

Cinnabon
I bet this Cinnabonâ„¢makes you feel sexy!

So mom was right: the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, one Cinnabonâ„¢at a time!

Women aren’t too different:

  • Good & Plenty candy combined with cucumber (Loved them both as kid, ate them separately, but if it helps I will consider eating cucumber as I chew my peppermint gum)
  • Good & Plenty candy with banana bread (OMG! who doesn’t love the smell of banana bread) Are you feeling it yet?

 

  • Pumpkin pie, coffee, vanilla, and grilled meats also kindle the fire, so to speak. Well that makes perfect sense to me! ( I get ravenously primal when I smell grilled meat; and feel all nostalgic and cuddly around the smells of baking cookies, cakes, coffee and vanilla) Taking notes?

Well, I guarantee that a fresh, warm, buttery batch of DebbyK’s coconut butter will have the same effect.

So, blend up this buttery brew, take a whiff and let it be your viagra. You may just find yourself carrying around a jar in your pocket!

As promised here is my recipe for how to make coconut butter.

Coconut Butter
Coconut Butter is my Drug!

DebbyK’s Creamy Coconut Butter

Prep time: 5 min

Cooking Time: 15 min

Servings: 32

Serving size: 1 Tablespoon

Gather:  6-8 cups Dried shredded coconut

Vanilla (optional,  but suggested if you want to attract a mate)

What you need: Measuring cup, high speed blender, spatula

Steps:

  1. Gather your shredded coconut and a measuring cup

    Organic Coconut
    Shredded Coconut on my homemade sushi platter
  2. Put 3 cups of coconut into a high speed blender. I use an old Osterizer.
  3. Start blending on a low speed, and using a knife keep pushing the coconut down into the middle. Within a few seconds the coconut will start to fly around.
  4. Immediately add another cup while continuing to scrap down the sides into the middle and increase the speed to HIGH or if you have many setting, 1 or 2 below the highest. It should combine rather quickly. If not be patient. All dried coconut has different moisture content, and is aged differently, and some combine faster than others.
  5. Organic Coconut ButterWhen the coconut starts getting creamy add another cup, 1/2 cup at a time while continuing to scrape sides down with the knife, and pushing it towards the middle.
  6. As you continue to add the coconut the butter will become thick and you will think that it will never get smooth and creamy. But be patient. (See picture, Step 6, left)
  7. Coconut Butter
    This is the point where it starts to get more creamy. This is good enough to eat NOW!

    At this point I like to wait til the butter gets very creamy until adding additional coconut. Then continue to add 1 cup at a time, adding slowly so the coconut is incorporated. It should look like this (See picture Step 7, left)

  8. I use 6-8 cups of shredded coconut to make 16-20oz’s of butter.
  9. Once you have 2 to 2 1/2 cup of butter in your blender you can add vanilla to taste if you want, do a quick blend, and you’re ready to jar it up.

    Coconut Butter
    Creamy goodness!
  10. Well, that’s it! Now you are ready to eat your coconut butter!  But if you’re like me it’s already half gone…Enjoy!
  11. And if you’re just too darn lazy tired to do it yourself then I’d be happy to make you a couple jars. Just email me at debkaplan@sbcglobal.net

 

 

Here’s a short video of Step 3

Notes:

  • The blender may get hot. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. You can turn off the blender and rest it for a few minutes if you want.
  • If the blender gets too hot it can burn the coconut butter. You’ll know this if it starts to turn brown.
  • After pouring all the goodness into your jars you’ll be left with residual on the sides and bottom. Don’t let that go to waste. Scrape all of it down to the bottom and then take 1/3 cup of HOT water and pour it in. Put the blender back on the base and blend high speed til frothy. Pour  ‘milk’ into a mug and heat it up with a sprinkle of cinnamon drop of liquid stevia or splenda if you use it.
  • And there you have it…more liquid goodness to start or end your day…!
  • OH! Forgot…You don’t have to refrigerate the coconut butter. It has anti fungal properties and will keep for quite some time on the shelf, if it even lasts that long, which I bet it won’t. If you want to feel safe then you can also freeze it too. It hardens at below 70 degrees F.
  • To get your butter silky and smooth again, just put the jar in a pan of water, best in a double boiler, on low heat and it will melt. Stir occasionally.  Watch it so it doesn’t burn. If you forget about it and it turns a golden brown don’t worry, it’s still yummy!

    Coconut Butter
    Don’t forget that gooey goodness at the bottom of the blender

Nutritional Facts:

Serving Size (15 g or 1 Tablespoon)

Servings Per Recipe 32

Calories 120

Calories from Fat 90 (75%)

Total Fat 10 g

Saturated Fat 9.5 g

Monounsaturated Fat 0 g

Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g

Trans Fat 0 g

Cholesterol 0 g

Sodium 4 mg

Potassium 0 mg

Total Carbohydrate 4 g

Dietary Fiber 0 g

Sugars g

Protein 1 g

So, there you have it. My liquid gold which I refer to as Coconut Crack!

Enjoy, and and make it Your Fit Day with DebbyK!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Healing Benefits of Coconut Butter

Coconut Butter
“Oil that is, coconut oi, liquid gold”

Hey Your Fit Day Friends!

You’re probably asking ”Hey, hey, where’s  DebbyK ?” Well, if you’re  getting my newsletters then your in the know.

What? Not subscribed? What the…? Get your crazy self over to my sidebar and click on that link so I can bug you with my my fitness and fat loss tips, and coming to you soon, my yummy recipes.

Kay now!… that’s settled…and thanks for subscribing.

So, here’s the four one one on why I’ve been out of touch with my fitness blogging and updates: For those of you who just recently subscribed I’ve had 2 major surgeries in the past year. For the first one I traveled far far away to the beautiful land of India for my hip resurfacing surgery, where they put a shiny new cobalt ball in my hip. That was last October.  The 4th to be exact. It’s been a year already, OMG!

Well, thank god I’m not in pain anymore. But I’ll tell you it’s been a big freakin deal trying to get my body feeling normal again. And after a year I”m not nearly as in shape as I was. But that’s because when I got back I had to have another freakin surgery.  It’s like I’m under construction from the bottom up. Now I know how Michelangelo felt painting the Sistine Chapel.  It’s that painstakingly slow to rehab. So don’t sweat it if you have a bad day with your program. It’s all cumulative. Just keep pluggin’ away. K?

So, first surgery’s down, and then seven months later I had to go under the knife again for shoulder surgery. That’s only five months ago. Have you had shoulder surgery? Well, don’t. It was a BIGGER pain in the A#$ than the first one!  Don’t ever get it. Because it feels like somebody’s pounding and drilling into your shoulder with a hammer, incessantly, minute after minute for at least six weeks. Not that I’ve ever had that happen to me, but if I did…hmmm…actually, come to think of it…well, you get the point.  OK! I know…not much of an excuse for not blogging.

But don’t worry, while I was gone I was thinking all about you and what would make you feel warm and fuzzy. And considering my condition ( since it’s really hard for me to do fitness videos for you like I promised-and I’m really sorry for not having kept my word- even if I were to make workout videos, seriously, if you did some of the exercises like how I’m doing them now you’d be exercising like a one winged flamingo) I thought it would be in your best interest to wait a bit longer for the kick butt workout videos. So instead, I’m going to make you some yummy stuff to eat.

Well, not actually make you dinner and desert, as in you coming over to my place and having tea and all…

Rather,  put many of my yummy healing treats and foods that have helped me keep this body happy, healthy, fit (considering) and lean for the past 30 years – not to mention during my surgeries – here on my blog. No Reservations Required!

Yummy stuff… like savory meals, and gluten free sweets, muffins, pies, cakes and butters.

Yup, you read that right….

And because I’ve been getting so many requests for DebbyK’s Coconut Butter recipes (I have many yummy flavors)  I’ve decided to share one of my addictions basic recipes with you.  My liquid gold.

Why Butter? Why Not Butter! Yum…

So while I was recovering after my shoulder surgery I began to research more about healing through nature and how our hormones play a big role in regulating our recovery. I knew that good fats, such as Omega 3’s, are vital in our body’s defense against aging and inflammation.  But just as important as Omega 3’s are saturated fats. If I wanted to give my body the best chance at a strong recovery I would need more FAT.

… Actually, more saturated fats.

Wait, I know what you’re thinking, that fat’s not good for you, and it will make you..well… fat. Or drop dead. Or both. Especially saturated fat. I’ll die of a heart attack THIS SECOND, right?!

Now that’s ridiculous. I mean our paleolithic friends ate tons of fat… in meat, nuts and seeds. And they weren’t fat.  But of course they weren’t sitting at their computers all day checking Facebook, reading blogs and munching on chips (Put those down and keep reading).

Well, that’s another blog altogether. In the meantime a good place to learn about fats, healing, and optimal health through diet is over at  Robb Wolf’s website where you can also read up on why we need more of these good fats in our diets. And while you’re there make sure to read up on the the ‘Paleo Lifestyle’.

OkeeDoKee! Back to the fats. Fats such as coconut oil, red palm oil, grass fed butter and ghee, and coconut butter-a saturated fat- are all really good for you and should be the bulk of the fats and oils you use when cooking.

So you’re probably wondering what this here coconut butter has to do with my yummy healthy recipes that I’m putting together for you. Well for one, it’s become my go-to staple fat for much of my baking. And snacking…I don’t lie.

But coconut butter is so delicious that I don’t only use it for most of my general cooking like I’d use butter, plain virgin coconut oil and red palm oil for stuff like stir fry, soups, etc. That would be like melting gold to make one nail and then  pounding it somewhere into the frame of your house.  You don’t get the real beauty of it. A waste. No Can Do.

Nope.. I eat it by the spoonful…straight from the jar. I want the full sensation of this liquid gold.

Coconut butter
This doesn’t last long in my house!

But the best is when I warm it up in a double boiler before I dip my spoon into the jar, and wait til it becomes really smooth and silky. And then, as my lips wrap around the spoon and the fat molecules explode in a crescendo of gooey goodness on my tongue, it warms my senses and brings back memories of sticking my fingers into Mom’s gigantic blue-ringed ceramic mixing bowl filled with cake batter…which makes me dip my spoon in for more.

Come to think of it maybe I am an addict.

Oh, I digress…when you make my recipe, coming up in my next blog post, you’ll know what I’m talking about. It really is like eating cake batter or vanilla frosting or even cookie dough. And there are endless other ways to melt into a blissful state while eating this treat: like putting a dollop in tea or coffee; dipping with fruit; or icing cookies, cakes and pies. OH MY!

And not only does it taste good it has many healthy and healing qualities.

Ninja of Oils

Coconut oil is the ninja of oils. Aside from tasting like heaven,  check out this laundry list of it’s super duper qualities:

Weight Loss:

Coconut oil is an MCT (medium chain triglyceride). Instead of storing it as fat you burn it as energy. It’s like eating a piece of candy that won’t stick to your thighs. How’s that for liquid gold?  It’s a super-food which will make you feel energized after eating it. So don’t be surprised if you start running sprints up and down your office hallways.

Coconut oil stimulates your metabolism, so it helps with energy levels and may help you to burn more calories each day.

Coconut oil, and it side kick the creamy butter, is a key nutrient that has helped many of my clients, including myself, to lose body fat while using the Carb Backloading  and/or The Carb Nite Solution: The Physicist’s Guide to Power Dieting (Please not that I will receive a small commission from the sales of these books).

Boost Your Immunity:

Coconut oil has been shown to boost your immunity as well as kill harmful bacteria and viruses. Flu seasons coming, so stock up!

Coconut oil has been shown to kill the Candida Albicans yeast with it’s anti fungal properties.

Healthy Skin:

Coconut oil boosts moisture and elasticity in your skin. I would even consider that an anti aging remedy. Now I’m definitely down for stocking up!

Heart Health:

Coconut oil has been shown to reduce cholesterol and heart disease.

So, Eat Up America! This is one saturated fat you don’t want to miss out on.

Click HERE to get the recipe to my Liquid Gold Creamy Coconut Butter

Enjoy, and and make it Your Fit Day with DebbyK!