I used to be a bit down on quinoa. It was one of those things I wished I liked, like green tea, which makes me want to throw up, by the way. If I ever come to your house for tea, a cup of builder’s is just fine. Anyway… I persisted with quinoa and now I love it. If you cook it right and use it correctly it’s really quite nice – and it’s such a nutrient-rich food. I love the fact that it’s like cous cous or rice, but WAY better for you. Read more about it here…
If I’m eating it savoury, I cook it in vegetable stock (a low salt cube or bouillon is fine) which makes a huge difference. Then you can eat it plain, which is how the kids like it, or as a tabouleh with herbs and so on in (that’s how we ate it yesterday, alongside slow roast Moorish lamb). Or once I made quinoa patties with it, which were really nice.
I recently discovered quinoa flakes, which is what I used to make these cookies. You use them in the same way as porridge oats basically. I made porridge with them (mixing 50/50 oats and quinoa in the hope the kids wouldn’t notice) but they didn’t like it, even with chocolate spread stirred in! I was surprised actually as I thought it was rather good. I think mine at at a ‘fussy stage’, and I reckon younger kids would probably not even notice so it might be worth a try with yours…
The flakes are super in these cookies. I have replaced oats with them and they just work brilliantly. My son is obsessed and eats as many as he can get away with. Yes, they are cookies and are still a treat, but they have a lot of quinoa in, so at least there is a nutritional boost in there too.
You can buy quinoa flakes in Holland and Barratt and other health food stores.
Makes: about 20
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Overall time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
100g butter, room temp.
100g soft brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
140g plain flour (use spelt or buckwheat if you like)
125g quinoa flakes (or porridge oats)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
100g chocolate chips
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 180C. Line 2 trays with baking paper.
- Cream butter and sugar together, with a wooden spoon or electric whisk, for a few minutes.
- Add the egg, vanilla, and beat again.
- Dry ingredients now: mix flour, bicarb, baking powder, and quinoa or oats.
- Mix the wet and dry gently, folding in the chips at the end.
- Make small balls of dough with your hands and pop on trays. Space them apart as they need room.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Lift off carefully with a spatula and let cool on a tray.
