Some people really need thatmorning cup of Joe. Like can't-get-to-work-without-itneedit.
我不是其中的一个人。事实上,我很少ever, drink the stuff, choosing water, or the occasionalcuppa tea(and do make itmatchaplease), as my drink of choice. But when a coworker recently told me about a new, nutrient-packed coffee product that was supposedly great for baking, I perked up.
Although the name makes it sound like it's simply ground-up coffee (that would be, uh, coffee), it's actually a by-product of the coffee industry (read:#wasteless) made from drying out the outer fruit, or cherry, of the coffee plant, a material usually tossed as waste. Once dried, the dehydrated coffee fruit is turned into a powdery substance that's a cross between a flour and a spice.
And though the #wasteless angle reeled me in, it's the nutritional aspects that really sold me. Coffee flour is way more than an excuse to just get more caffeine in your day-to-day routine. (In fact,according to one producer, it only contains about as much caffeine as dark chocolate, ounce per ounce.) Gram for gram, the brandCoffee Flour touts its productas having more iron than fresh spinach; more fiber than whole grain wheat flour; more antioxidants than pomegranate; more protein than fresh kale; more potassium than banana;andless fat than coconut flour. Whoa.
Up until now, I assumed coffee flour was one of those hard-to-find, esoteric health food store ingredients. But when my colleague found it at budget-friendlyTrader Joe'slast week, I decided to give it a shot.
To test the coffee flour, I added it to a simplepound cake recipe, using the company's suggested ratio of 15 percent coffee flour to other flour. I was surprised how dark the flour was, and how dark it turned the cake batter; my pound cake looked like it was made with chocolate, not coffee.
The coffee flour did add a slight bitter flavor to the pound cake. But I'd bet that it would pair well with something sweeter, like chewychocolate cookies, and would be delicious swapped into a coffee cake (make that aCoffee Coffee Coffee cake), or any sweet baked good with chocolate and a decent amount of sugar.
Plus the real reason I'd cook with coffee flour again is not for its flavor, but for the nutritional boost it offers. Of course, you aren't eating that much of it; the pound cake recipe I tested, for instance, contained only 3/4 cup coffee flour in the whole cake. But still, that provides a whole lot more antioxidants and nutrients than the cake flour the recipe originally called for, which makes this one coffee item I would definitely turn to again.
