IS there such a thing as too much vanilla? I've been (un)baking - well, it includes my old oven and it sure smells good so I guess it's okay to say I'm baking - some Lemon Coconut Cookies and Coconut Vanilla Granola today. I bought two mature coconuts and they've been sitting around just waiting for me to decide on a recipe. I ended up using only one for the two recipes, and I tossed in some of the water to replace some of the sweetener in the granola. Pure, tropical bliss in the kitchen. I did not have any vanilla essence, only a bag of vanilla powder, so I think may have overdosed more than a little. I'm wondering if vanilla has any nutritional significance, good or bad? I've read that nutmeg is unhealthy in large doses, and I'm a huge fan of turmeric not least because Meghan says it is super-healthy, but I have no clue about vanilla.Here's how I tweaked the two recipes: for the vanilla crunch granola I did NOT use a whole cup of agave syrup, more like just a good long squirt. All the coconut makes it sweet enough for me. I kind of wish I tweaked it by halving the amounts, though, it turned out to be the absolutely hugest amount of homemade granola I've ever seen (how did I not foresee that?). Guess I'll be eating it for a while. And I accidently swapped the measurements for almonds and sunflower seeds, but the taste is still fine, only it's cheaper. For the cookies I halved the recipe - which got me around 15-18 cookies, I think, and I used half cashews/half some almond pulp left over from nut-milking. For both recipes I used fresh, not dried, coconut and I also used a bit of coconut water in both to cut down on the agave.
I usually cut back on the agave in recipes. If a drizzle is fine, then that's great. It can get expensive sometimes, if you use a lot. It's also controversial at the moment.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about vanilla either. Since it doesn't take much to add flavor to a recipe, I doubt you could overdose on it.