A lot of readers ask me about substitutions in my recipes, and more often than not I am happy to oblige. I know that specific low carb ingredients can be hard to come by, and that people have dietary intolerances or preferences. I want my recipes to be as accessible to as many people as possible, so if it’s a matter or swapping coconut products for the dairy or using different sweeteners than what I use, I want to help people figure out how to make it work.

But some substitutions are far trickier than others, and one of those is swapping coconut flour for almond flour or vice versa. It isn’t like substituting cake flour for bread flour or whole wheat for white. When I create an almond flour recipe, it’s based on the peculiar properties of almond flour and how it combines with other ingredients. When I decide to create a recipe based on coconut flour, I don’t start by comparing it to almond flour recipes. I start simply by figuring out what it will take to make the coconut flour work. They are such different beasts and require such different treatments. I just don’t see these two ingredients as interchangeable at all.

But I truly understand the reasons for these requests and many times it’s a reader with an allergy. They see one of my decadent desserts and hope it can be made to their needs so that they can enjoy some sweets on their low carb, gluten-free journey. I get it, I do. So often my response goes something like “Well, you’re better off taking an actual coconut flour recipe and changing the other ingredients to match the flavours of this recipe”. Because that is far, far easier than taking an almond flour recipe and breaking it down to revamp it with coconut flour. And as I continue to play with both flours and develop recipes using one or the other (or sometimes a combination of the two), I build up a databank of possibilities for anyone with a nut or a coconut allergy. Many of them can be then adapted to suit other recipes.

Many of my muffin recipes are almond-flour based, so I decided to switch it up one morning and create a coconut-flour muffin for my nut allergy readers. I wanted to add some berries but all I had were the freeze-dried kind from Honeyville. And it occurred to me that this would actually be perfect for coconut flour, since fresh berries have a tendency to be to “wet” in coconut flour recipes, making the end result a little soggy. You can sub fresh berries here too, as the muffins would still be quite flavourful, just a little soggier around the berries (and you should keep leftovers in the fridge for that reason).