White Chocolate Coconut Cups (Fat Bombs)

A year ago I would NEVER have made this recipe! I was eating a low fat, vegan, whole foods plant based diet—about as far away from a ketogenic, Paleo-inspired diet as you can get. The idea of eating a “fat bomb” would have made me laugh out loud, if not gag.

Then came SIBO.

Technically, these cute little treats are called “fat bombs”, not a pretty name. I prefer White Chocolate Coconut Cups. Doesn’t that sound nicer?

Backstory. I discovered fat bombs when scouting around online for a sweet treat that wouldn’t feed my archaea and aggravate my SIBO. The treat I was searching for needed to be grain-free, sugar-free and low in fermentable carbs.

Most of the fat bomb recipes I've come across are made with a base of coconut oil, which is fine, but I prefer to use cacao butter, which is the pure fat of the cacao bean.

Cacao butter is rock solid at room temperature but melts instantly upon contact with the human body.

It also tastes lovely, providing the aromatic essence of chocolate without any fiber or caffeine. Cacao butter is the key ingredient in so-called "white chocolate", hence the name of these adorable coconut cups.

In case you're wondering where to find Raw Cacao Butter, try The Raw Food World online, a super sweet family-run business. That's where I get mine.

As you can see, I use a fancy high tech kitchen scale (pictured at left) to weigh it out. Then, I melt it in the toaster oven on the lowest possible bake setting: 150 degrees Farenheit. You can also use a double boiler to melt cacao butter but please, don’t use a microwave. Microwaves alter the molecules in your food in unnatural, cancer-causing ways. (If you don't believe me, read this.)

By the way, if you don't have a kitchen scale, just chop up the cacao butter and measure it instead. 3 ounces equals about a half a cup chopped -->

According to my research, the purest fat bombs are made only with 2 main ingredients:

1) a fat (usually coconut oil)

2) a sugar-free, zero-carbohydrate sweetener such as stevia, erythritol or monkfruit.

Some recipes call for Sucralose/Splenda but I wouldn't touch that scariness with a 10-foot pole, let alone my lips. Not to be overdramatic, but really. Just, no.

For the sweetener in this recipe I used Golden Lakanto, a combination of monkfruit and erythritol. Lakanto, available in white or golden, is currently sold online only, as far as I can tell. The golden tastes quite nice—brown sugarish with no nasty aftertaste. It is kind of hard to get, though. If you can't find Lakanto, try organic erythritol, a pure sweet tasting, non-fermenting polyol (sugar alcohol) that's sold at Whole Foods under the somewhat unfortunate brand name "Zero." Zero erythritol is what I put in my tea these days. It's a white crystalline sweetener offering plain, slightly cool sweetness and is 100% SIBO-safe, as well as non-poisonous (e.g. sucralose, aspartame) and a little less pricey than Golden Lakanto. But I digress...

Anyhoo, here's a secret: I’ve been experimenting with making fat bombs for a while—adding whey protein isolate to make them chewy, spicing them up with cinnamon, ginger, vanilla extract and essential oils like lemon, orange and tangerine. But I haven’t shared any of those recipes because, to be honest, so far they haven’t been THAT great.

But...I got a little crazy yesterday and decided to make some über-fancy fat bombs with shredded coconut, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds added. BE ADVISED: nuts and seeds are not recommended when you are first starting out on a SIBO-safe diet.

I avoided all nuts and seeds like the plague over the entire summer, i.e. for two or three months while I was on my strict ketogenic healing program, and I’m NOT planning on eating them regularly now. But for a treat, IF you can limit yourself to one or two AND you’re out of the woods with the bloating (very important point), you might like to give these babies a try. They really are pretty darn good!

White Chocolate Coconut Cups (Fat Bombs)

3 ounces raw cacao butter (about ½ cup roughly chopped, 1/3 cup melted)

1 teaspoon coconut oil

3 teaspoons Lakanto or erythritol (Zero)

½ cup shredded coconut

¼ cup each raw pumpkin seeds & raw sunflower seeds

¼ teaspoon sea salt or Himalayan pink salt (my fave)

DIRECTIONS: Melt cacao butter in a low oven or double boiler. Stir in coconut oil and Lakanto. Add shredded coconut, pumpkin & sunflower seeds, and salt. Mix well. 

Divide mixture evenly into the 12 cups of a silicone mini muffin cup mold, or if you don’t have one of these (I just got mine at Bed Bath and Beyond—it’s awesome!), turn the mixture onto a sheet of wax paper, shape it into a log and roll it up. Refrigerate or freeze for 20 minutes to harden. If you did the log method, slice into 12 circles, or as desired. The mini muffin mold cups just pop right out!

Variation: Replace the coconut, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds with about ½ cup of whey protein isolate or Pure Paleo protein powder, vanilla or chocolate flavor.  This is a good option for people on Phase 1 of SIBO-safe diet. Note: The exact amount you need to add will vary depending on the consistency of your powder. Just start stirring it in one tablespoon at a time until the mixture starts to thicken up enough to divide into the mini muffin cups or roll into a log. Then, chill as above and enjoy. :)

Sexy Sibo White Chocolate Coconut Cups (aka Fat Bombs!)

Ridiculously Easy DIY Coconut Milk

Did you know how ridiculously easy it is to make your own fresh, delicious coconut milk? I mean the regular thin kind of coconut milk that stands in for cow or plant milk (i.e. almond milk, hemp milk, etc.)—not the thick, creamy canned stuff.

Well, let me tell you! All you need is two things: shredded coconut and water. Just blend them together in a 1:4 ratio (1 part shredded coconut to 4 parts water). Seriously, that's it!

I'm totally glad that store-bought coconut milk exists but it is far from a perfect food. Besides the fact of being a) produced in a faceless factory far away without love, b) heated to high temperatures that damage the healthy fats and other nutrients it contains, and c) packaged in a sterile box, commercial liquid coconut milk contains "other ingredients" that may not be ideal for SIBO sufferers. I'm talking here, primarily, about gums: a type of soluble fiber that feeds gut bacteria.

Shredded coconut itself in smallish amounts (1/4 cup per sitting) is generally safe for most SIBO peeps. But as for xanthan gum, guar gum, etc—not to mention the flavors, sweeteners and synthetic vitamins that often go into boxed coconut milk—maybe not so much.

Anyway, fresh-made is always better, naturally! So I am thrilled to report what a cinch this is to make! Plus it really tastes yummy and super coco-nutty. You must try.

The recipe below makes a small, 2 cup batch that can be enjoyed fresh and warm. If you want to make more, just increase the amounts, keeping the 1:4 ratio, and store in the fridge. Fresh DIY Coconut Milk should keep well for a few days, but expect it to separate after it sits a while—nothing a little stir 'n' shake won't cure.

Ridiculously Easy DIY Coconut Milk

Ingredients
2 cups water
1/2 cup organic shredded coconut

Directions
Heat water in a pan until it starts to feel warm to your finger. Put shredded coconut in your Vitamix* and pour the warm water on top. Blend on low speed for about 1 minute and high speed for 2-3 minutes. Pour through a stainless steel mesh strainer into a clean bowl and use the back of a wooden spoon to press excess liquid out of the pulp. (You can also use a nut milk bag if you like, that's just never been my style.)

Feel free to save the leftover pulp for another use (could be a nice sub for coconut flour in a SIBO safe muffin or pancake recipe) and enjoy your fresh coconut milk!

*If you don't have a Vitamix or other high speed blender, a regular blender will do—just expect the process to take a few minutes longer.