For the almond flour, if you don't care whether it's dark or light, you can make it in your food processor without blanching (the Vita-Mix, while an absolutely miraculous appliance, will turn it into almond butter....a different kind of yum)! So, almond flour is finely ground almonds. Store-bought almond flour is usually just a bit finer than home-ground almond flour as well, but I have not found this to make a difference when I use it for baking.

BUT! Coconut flour is defatted coconut, and I don't know of any way for you to press it hard enough to de-fat the pulp. Grinding the NON-defatted coconut in your VitaMix will turn it into another delicious yum - Coconut Butter.

So: you can get by making almond flour at home; not so much coconut flour.

FYI store bought almond flour is made from blanched almonds, which makes for a much more involved DIY process...I did it once and decided it's worth the money to purchase it ready to use!

Thanks for the help...i broke down and ordered online. We have NO health food stores within 100 miles. I will make my own almod flour next time!

I grind almonds ($5 lb) in my blender for baking all the time. It's plenty fine for baking, and the bigger chunks just add a little texture - you know, like chopped nuts.

I order my almond flour online at nutsonline.com its not cheap but it does last a fairly long time unless you are always baking with it.

I order my coconut flour on amazon.com (bobs red mill) I always ship things standard but now that its hotter you might find it needs to be delivered with ice packs or quicker. I just got some chocolate covered almonds and they are a solid block of yuck!

yes you can blend your own easily with the vitamix (careful mixing the almond flour as it can easily go to almond butter)

I did just that at first, but I didnt have a good food processor and I just got my vitamix in! Also where I live nuts are imported and usually spoilt from the journey so now I just import my stuff directly and its much fresher.

probably buying nuts in bulk locally if the best way to go.
If you can find a coconut, whole, you can easily do it yourself and use all the other goodness that comes with it!!

good luck!!

Do you have any health food stores within driving distance? I'm in FL and we have a Rollin' Oats, Abby's, Fresh Market and Nutrition S'Mart. Even our Publix carries them.

You absolutely can make coconut flour with the Vitamix! Take 1 cup shredded, 2 cups water, blend working up to the highest setting, blend until you get a milky white liquid, pass mixture through a fine mesh filter, press the water out (also pushes the fat through), then dry the leftover coconut in the oven at 200 degrees C!

Usually I use the coconut right away so I don't bother to completely dry the coconut.

I actually prefer this shredded coconut to coconut flour for baking:

http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Do-Organic-Shredded-Unsweetened/dp/B000F4D5GC/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1359562637&sr=8-15&keywords=coconut+flour

Combining it with equal parts of almond flour, plus the usual other ingredients (eg, eggs), and I am able to produce something that resembles a muffin ... and it tastes fine. It also comes out somewhat fluffy. Using coconut flour produces something akin to a brick.

_Lazza

PS - I actually started using shredded coconut by accident; I thought I had ordered coconut flour instead. Lucky me!