Jen is Trayning: No cuts, no butts, no......

COCONUTS!

So I've become fascinated with coconuts lately. I found a bag of 'coconut chips' at Trader Joes that are amazing but it got me thinking....can I make these myself and limit the amount of salt and sugar? Well...that was my weekend project. I have realized about 12 things I'd do differently after I finished the process but I must say it was a very interesting project indeed.

I started by going to Growers Direct and the nice man at the store actually machete'd the top of the coconuts for me (thank goodness). It took him about 10 minutes to do this and all I heard was the sounds of a sword chopping at what seemed to be concrete. When he came out from the depths of the backstage area he told me that all I had to do was go home, pierce the top, drain the water and throw the coconuts on the ground. Naturally I was a bit weary; so - I used a hammer instead.

I think before hammering into the coconuts that next time I will read a recipe. The internet says to bake the coconuts at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes. This makes it easier to remove the hard shell as it softens the meat inside. This time around I was far too eager and ended up hammering them BEFORE baking them, making it pretty difficult to work with them. The first batch I used a peeler but when I realized how much easier the hard shell was to remove if they were baked first the second batch turned out much better. I shaved them down, cooked the meaty pieces I gathered in a bit of coconut oil and toasted them in the oven at 400 for about 10 minutes. They're not as much of a 'chip' consistency but they're still damn tasty. I sprinkled one batch with a tad of sea salt and one batch with sea salt and sugar. They are an amazing treat and pretty good for you! I love weekend projects and although this one was a 'once in awhile' occurrence I will definitely do this again. Raw coconut is fun and interesting and toasted coconut is oh-so-good!