Whats fluffy, white, delicate, and lick-the-beater worthy?

Coconut Whipped Cream!!

What is Coconut Whipped Cream?

It’s no secret that I use a lot of coconut on the GAPS diet. You can read about the health benefits of coconut here. (The post is about coconut flakes, but coconut cream is just a form of coconut). I use WFN coconut cream or scoop off the “cream” layer from this brand Natural Value Organic Coconut Milk. All you have to do is chill the cream and whip it up with a pair of beaters. That is simple enough!

Dairy & sugar free

This coconut whipped cream is an alternative to the regular dairy whipped cream. This recipe is suitable for all dairy free people! The best part about this recipe, is that there is no extra sugar added! The coconut milk has a sweetness on its own. Thanks coconut for making life so easy 🙂

Xanthan gum

As many of you probably know, most coconut milk brands contain some gum. Gums of all kinds are not allowed on the GAPS diet. Some people who cannot make homemade coconut milk and are still using the cans are probably getting the xanthan gum as well.

Xanthan gum is usually derived from corn or grain. Though the Xanthan gum at WFN is sourced from Seaweed. This is good news for those with corn or grain allergies!

I am not saying you should “cheat” and eat xanthan gum if you are on GAPS, this would be a bad idea. Obviously regular cream would cause GAPS people a lot of problems, so stay away from milk if you have to as well.

Most of my family is OK with xanthan gum in small amours after being on the GAPS diet for many months. We do not eat it often, but when there is a “treat” that needs whipped cream, this is our go-to-recipe. Once in a while we will whip out the canned coconut milk as well to make dairy free ice-cream.mmm.

If you can eat dairy, then I would suggest regular raw cream to make your homemade whipped cream, so you can avoid the additives. Or even better culture the cream (hmm…maybe a future post recipe!).

Real Food Forager talks a little bit using coconut cream on GAPS (read here). Wrist test (GAPS testing method) the coconut milk first to make sure your body is ok with it. Please do what is right for your body 🙂

 Fluff it up!

Assuming you can have creamed coconut, let us talk about technique. First off, the correct coconut cream is a must! If you cannot find this brand, then I suggest following these steps..

1. You will need full fat coconut milk like this one: (Natural Value Organic Coconut Milk)
2. Refrigerate the can and wait for the cream to separate.
3. Scoop off the white creamy stuff and set aside the clear liquid (no need to dump it, just use it like you would coconut water, smoothies, pancakes, bread..etc)
4. Use the creamy stuff as you would “coconut cream”

Now shall we get started on the actual recipe?

INGREDIENTS:

1 carton of 100% pure coconut cream  (no additives & no can) or 1 cup “top” cream from canned coconut milk

2 tsp vanilla extract  or pure vanilla beans (learn how to scrape out the seeds here) —optional

DIRECTIONS:

1. Chill in the fridge for about 8 hours or overnight.

2. Scoop out the thick cream (pour out any extra water, if you are using a can- save for later!)

3. Beat with hand beaters on high for about 5 minutes or until thickened and fluffy.

4. Add in the vanilla extract or beans (optional) and beat until combined.

5. Transfer back to fridge for 5 minutes (helps the “whipped cream” stiffen more)

6. Serve like you would traditional whipped cream: on top of berries, pie, or ice-cream sundays (GAPS legal of course!)

7. Yum!

~Stay Gutsy, Caroline