These Quinoa Chocolate cookie-cakes are soft with a cake like texture rather than a hard biscuit. You can add dried fruit or chopped nuts for more crunch but they are so good just as they are with chocolate!
I bought some Coconut sugar recently, I was intrigued to see how it worked in my baking, I tasted it first to see how sweet it was and was pleasantly surprised to find it far less sweet than white or brown sugar.
Coconut sugar is a healthy alternative sweetner that has a lower glycemic index than cane sugar, agave or honey. It is especially high in minerals including potassium, magnesium and zinc, as well as vitamins B2, B3 and B6.
The addition of Quinoa makes these little cakes protein-rich and with a little bit of chocolate a delicious treat at tea time, breakfast time or any time!
Great healthy toddler snack too, mine loves them.
Ingredients
125g unsalted butter - softened
75g coconut sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg100g wholewheat plain flour
75g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup cooked and cooled Quinoa (easier to measure in cups)
50g sugar-free dark chocolate, roughly chopped
Method
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4.
Beat the softened butter and Coconut sugar until pale and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat in until well combined.
In another bowl, combine the wholewheat flour, plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and ground cinnamon.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a few tablespoons at a time and mix in until fully combined. I used my hand mixer.
Stir in the cooked Quinoa and chocolate pieces to the cake batter and fold in until just combined. These cakes are a great way to use up any left over Quinoa.
Pop small dollops of the dough onto your baking trays, I prefer to brush a smear of butter over mine for biscuits or cookies, a tablespoon or teaspoon size whichever you prefer and flatten down a little. Space evenly apart.
Bake at 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4 for about 12-15 minutes until the edges of the cakes are slightly browned.
Cool for a few minutes before transferring onto a wire rack.
Elizabeth
These sound lovely. I like the idea of using quinoa. I'll have to try this next time I have leftover quinoa. I too have just started experimenting with coconut palm sugar - I made my first cake with it today. It really is something else, but it's far too expensive to work with regularly, I think.
Nutritious Deliciousness
I agree it is quite expensive, I do love experimenting though! Thanks for following my blog, will hop over to yours too.
Choclette
These sound just perfect. I've cooked with quinoa flour before and not been happy with it as I found it left a bitter taste in the mouth. But I love whole cooked quinoa and have been thinking for a while I should try this instead. Now I know it works - lovely recipe. I'd like to try coconut sugar too, but haven't come across that - yet! Thanks for making these for We Should Cocoa.
Nutritious Deliciousness
Loved making them, they were delicious and gone in a flash!
Ruth Ellis
These sound brilliant - I have made a chocolate cake before with cooked quinoa which was delicious but I've never used it in cookies - I've bookmarked it to give it a shot. Coconut sugar is wonderful stuff isn't it - I use it for toddler baking, along with honey, maple syrup or pureed dates when I want to add sweetness and not feel to guilty about it (usually as a means to sneaking in something a little more nutritious via cake!)
Nutritious Deliciousness
Thanks Ruth, they were quite cakey but very moreish, I'm using coconut sugar more now and maple syrup, we must swap toddler baking tips!