The coffee grinder thread

[starchcurious]

I find that coffee grinders are something of a magical gadget for their ability to turn near anything into a very fine dust. Basically, it's an easy way to make small quantities of flour. For quite a few vegan recipes, especially gluten free recipes, this is really handy. Here are some things that I've thrown in a coffee grinder, turned into powder, and used in a recipe.

Flax seeds - baked goods, creamy buckwheat, pancakes
Flax seeds and dried gogi berries - great buckwheat topping (or oatmeal topping)
Sunflower seeds - combine with cooked lentils for great lentil patties
Pumpkin seeds - same as above
Anasazi beans - great addition to lentil balls for spaghetti
Anasazi beans and rosemary - even better!
Almonds - now that I think about it this would be a faster way to make almond milk...

I bet grinding dry chickpeas and adding powdered spices would be an excellent instant hummus mix. (Just add hot water, etc.)

Anybody have other coffee grinder tricks to share?

[Lin]

Thanks for these coffee grinder ideas!
I mostly use mine to grind flax seeds.
I would think that it would be good for most dried herbs and spices. I've got a whole pot of rosemary and am thinking that I'll probably try the grinder on some of them.

My DH and kids don't care for herbs and spices when they're kind of large. Things like rosemary, they call sticks, and I've figured out it's not the taste, but rather the texture they don't like. So,... if I grind them, then I don't hear any comments.

I hope others have some more ideas.

[moonwatcher]

I, too, use it mostly for my flax seeds, and sometimes fennel seeds, which, in small amounts are nice when cooking beans, or in sauces, adding a nice sweetness and helping with digestion. Thanks for these deliciously imaginative ideas!

[havfaith]

One of the cheapest (and best) appliances to have on hand! I make a healthy version of brownies using ground up Kashi cereal and ground oats and the coffee grinder makes quick work of it and is so easy to clean after. For $10, you can't go wrong.

[slugmom]

I use mine primarily for flax seeds.

Occasionally I'll use it for spices, but the other day I tossed some ground flax into some cookies and got a strong whiff of cumin -- I'd last used it to grind some whole cumin seeds. I'd apparently not dusted it out well -- some seeds are oily enough that their scent/flavor can linger. Needless to say, cumin cookies were ... interesting.