Cookies and quinoa

The weather’s gone a bit mental again.

So mild, it’s mad! Not that I’m complaining though: in my opinion, the best winter is the shortest one possible – it’s bad enough that it’s dark when I get up in the mornings and that the clocks go back in two weeks’ time 😦

But enough of such meteorological mumblings! This post is all about:

You know when you see a recipe and although you’ve only got one of the ingredients needed, you make it anyway?

I wanted a quick and easy dinner on Tuesday, just as I happened to read this post of Laura’s. Her “cheesy” millet and kale bowl sounded so good, I made my own.

I used slightly-wilted spinach, with garlic granules sprinkled on top, and added sauted leek and mushrooms. Instead of millet and tahini, I used quinoa flakes and cashew butter:

It was delicious, really reminding me of cheese and onion crisps! One to do again, thanks Laura 🙂

I also used the quinoa flakes to make some granola:

Obviously, it wasn’t the same as the oaty version but it was really light and fluffy. I had it on top of some thawed and pureed mango, with yoghurt and pumpkin seeds:

I also used the quinoa flakes for one more thing, to do with this:

The only problem with the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies and Sweets lasting for, you guessed it, 12 weeks is, it means I just have to make crunchy biscuity deliciousness every week *sigh*.

Quinoa cookies: (makes 12)

50g rice flour

30g quinoa flakes

20g brown sugar

3tbsp maple syrup

2tbsp almond butter

25g butter, softened

¼ tsp vanilla

¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda.

Preheat oven to 180C. Whisk the butter, almond butter, syrup, sugar and vanilla together till well mixed. You can use an electric whisk but I just did it by hand and it was fine. Add the flour, quinoa and bicarbonate of soda and mix till well combined.

Drop spoonfuls on a lined sheet and bake for 10 minutes till golden.

These were delicious. I say were because although I made them on Tuesday, there are already *does the mental maths, checks her working* not a lot left.

It’s not my fault though, the taste really reminds me of something and I can’t work out what it is – however hard I try 🙂

The obligatory Christmassy shot:

Mmmmm… and because of the quinoa, that means they’re healthy. Fact 🙂

It’s weird because I’ve never been that into quinoa before but I think that’s because of the way the whole grain looks weirdly like frogspawn when it’s cooked… do you like it?