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Quinoa Honey and Peanut Butter Biscuits

Posted on Posted in Biscuits .

Quinoa Honey and Peanut Butter Biscuits

Quinoa Honey and Peanut Butter Cookies

In an attempt to eat gluten free, I brought a packet of quinoa flakes to use as a rolled oat substitute for my porridge. As much as the substitute seemed consistent with rolled oats I didn’t fall in love with the texture.

So, after opting back to oats I had a half full packet of quinoa flakes that I didn’t want to waste.

The solution? Get experimenting. I figured if the flakes were mostly used as an oat substitute I could bake with them just like I do with other cereal ingredients.

Knowing this ingredient pairs well with common breakfast flavors I played around with a few flavour combos before I landed on honey and peanut butter.

These 2 ingredients go so well together and using the quinoa flakes as a base biscuit ingredient went just as well as oat bran, flour or oats do.

To keep with the gluten free theme, I used rice flour instead of the usual wheat flour for gluten free friendly biscuit-y goodness.

I had low expectations for this treat and to be honest was blown away by how tasty it is.

 

Ingredients:

  • 55g brown sugar
  • 80g butter
  • 110g honey
  • 90g peanut butter
  • 1 tsn vanilla essence
  • 200g rice flour
  • 1 tsn baking power
  • ¼ tsn salt
  • 110g quinoa flakes

 

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c degrees and line 2 large baking trays with baking paper.
  2. Place the sugar, butter, honey, peanut butter and vanilla into a saucepan on a medium heat.
  3. Stir until the mix is well combined, silky and bubbling on the sides of the pan. Set aside to cool slightly.
  4. Sieve the flour, powder and salt into a bowl and add the quinoa flakes, stir.
  5. Pour the butter mix over the dry mix and stir until well combined.
  6. Put the bowl of the biscuit mix into the fridge for 30 minutes to cool and slightly harden.
  7. Next roll the cooled dough into balls 30g in size and place onto the trays.
  8. Using a fork push the balls in the center to flatten.
  9. Place the trays in the oven to bake for 15 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown in colour – leave the biscuits on the tray to completely cool.
  10. Enjoy!

 

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Step 2

 

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Step 8

 

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Quinoa Berry Christmas Cake

Posted on Posted in Cakes .

Quinoa Berry Christmas Cake

Quinoa Berry Christmas Cake recipe

Quinoa….I have attempted to bake with this ancient grain about 10 times. This Quinoa Berry Christmas Cake was going to be the last attempt, where I only made the cake as I had some Quinoa left over from a Quinoa baking fail earlier that day.

I don’t understand how one thing can be that difficult to bake with…Semolina, couscous, polenta, almond meal – all are a breeze to bake with and add great texture and flavour. Quinoa…not so easy to bake with! The taste is quite distinct and hard to pair up, while the actual texture of the other ingredients also makes a big difference.

I have tired orange and ginger, pineapple carrot & banana, chocolate & peach even berries mango lime & mint to name a few and they were all flops!

As the fresh fruit was definitely not going to work I opted for dried fruit and knew I had to have a lot of flavour to offset the strong Quinoa taste. This directed me to dried fruit and heaps of it. As it’s Christmas time (Christmas Eve) of course a Christmas Cake was the first thing that popped into my mind.

I have also used gluten free flour to make this 100% free from gluten.

 

Ingredients:

  • 100g quinoa
  • 150g currents
  • 150g sultanas
  • 300g dries pitted dates
  • 100g mixed dried berries
  • 100g cranberries
  • 100g dried pineapple
  • 100g butter
  • 3 tbsn sherry
  • 2 oranges
  • ½ tsn bicarbonate of soda
  • 3 eggs
  • 155g gluten free flour
  • 1 tsn ground ginger
  • 1 tsn mixed spice
  • 1 tsn ground cinnamon

 

Method:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 160c and line a 23cm baking tin with baking paper.
  2. Place quinoa in a pan on the stove with 210g water.
  3. Turn on high until the water boils then reduce to low and simmer for 10 minutes or until the water is all fully absorbed.
  4. Move the quinoa off the heat to fully cool.
  5. Cut the dried fruit into small pieces.
  6. Place 2 tbsn water, the currents, sultanas, dates, berries, cranberries, pineapple, butter, sherry, juice and zest of the 2 oranges in a saucepan.
  7. Bring gently to the boil and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
  8. Turn off the heat, add in the bi carb and stir every 5 minutes until the mix is cool.
  9. Beat the eggs and place in the bowl with the cooled quinoa and fruit mix. Mix until combine.
  10. Sift in the flour and spices and stir until well combine.
  11. Place in the cake tin and bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
  12. Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes then place on a cooling rack to cool completely.

 

Notes:

  • The cake will be a moist when placing a skewer in as the dried fruit has absorbed the liquid and plumped them up.
  • If you want to make this alcohol free you can forgo the sherry and add in an additional 3 tbsn on orange juice.
  • If you don’t have sherry you can use brandy or port wine.
  • This cake is best served with custard or ice-cream.

 

Quinoa Berry Christmas Cake recipe

Ingredients

Quinoa Berry Christmas Cake recipe

Step 4

Quinoa Berry Christmas Cake recipe

Step 5

Quinoa Berry Christmas Cake recipe

Step 8

Quinoa Berry Christmas Cake recipe

Step 10

Quinoa Berry Christmas Cake recipe

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Sweet Potato and Chocolate Brownie

Posted on Posted in Brownies .
Sweet Potato Chocolate Brownie

Sweet Potato and Chocolate Brownie

This recipe spiked my interest as I don’t really cook a lot with sweet potato. Standard potato and pumpkin yes, but this veggie not so much.

In addition to sweet potato, the combo in this recipe of dark chocolate seemed like an interesting fusion of flavours.

The outcome of these brownies was quite surprising.

Though a whole cup of mashed potato is used in this recipe the favour of chocolate and hazelnut is so strong that you don’t even realise that this ingredient is present. This actually is not a bad thing as chocolate and hazelnut as we know are a match made in heaven. The potato makes the brownie extremely dense and moist, while also cutting out the large quantity of butter, chocolate and sugar that makes a normal choc brownie. This then makes the recipe a much more healthy version.

There is only a small quantity of flour in this recipe therefore I actually used gluten free plain flour to make the recipe gluten free (the baking powder is also GF).

This recipe is very simple, quick and very tasty.

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 1 + 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1 cup mashed and baked sweet potato
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsn vanilla essence
  • 3/4 cup plain flour
  • 1/4 tsn baking powder
  • 100g raw hazelnuts chopped  finely.

Method:

  1. Preheat your oven to 180c and line a square baking tray with baking paper.
  2. Place the butter and 1 cup of the chocolate into a microwave safe bowl and microwave on medium until melted. Stir with a metal spoon until the ingredients have melted.
  3. In another bowl mix the potato and sugar unit combined. Following add the chocolate mix, eggs and vanilla. Beat until smooth and thick.
  4. Stir in remaining ingredients.
  5. Pour into the tin and bake for 30 minutes or until firm to touch.
  6. Cool in tin, cut and serve.

A few tips include:

  • You can use hazelnut meal instead of chopped hazelnuts for a more smoother texture.
  • In addition, if you don’t want any ‘crunch’ at all melt all the chocolate not just one cup at the beginning.

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