There is a big debate between my husband Howard and son Ted. They like to talk about how our quinoa dinners should be cooked. Howard enjoys a quinoa risotto made with bone broth, tomatoes and lots of vegetables. He believes it makes the quinoa more interesting. Ted on the other hand is a huge fan of plain quinoa, just boiled in water or a little bit of bone broth. To stop them from debating about this issue too much I decided to make these cookies/biscuits from quinoa flour.
Before this point, I had only ever used quinoa flour in cakes and not cookies/biscuits. I had known for a while that you can make cookies from quinoa flour but I just hadn’t had an idea of what to cook with it. I decided to make an orange cake at the weekend so I thought I would bake these biscuits too. At first I was a little unsure they would work but once they were baked I was very pleased with the results. Ted and Howard don’t know I made these with quinoa flour. (So shhh, mum’s the word, ok!) I’m a little afraid to tell them there is quinoa in the cookies now in case I start another debate. These cookies are just too good not to share with you.
Makes 20 – 24 cookies/biscuits
Equipment
- Nutribullet or blender
- Zester or juicer
- Fine grater
- Mixing bowls x 2
- Scales
- Mixing spoon
- Electric Whisk
- Teaspoon
- Baking tray
- Grease proof paper
- Rolling pin
- Boards for the cookies
- Large cookie cutter
- Cooling rack
Ingredients
- Quinoa x 200g
- Gluten free oats x 100g
- Rice flour for dusting the board and rolling pin
- Baking powder x 1 tsp
- Coconut sugar x 150g
- Vegan butter, ghee or unsalted butter (if not vegan) x 200g
- Oranges x 1 zest and juice
- Orange essence x 1 cap full (optional)
- Chocolate chips x 150g
Method
- Take the vegan butter, ghee or unsalted butter from the fridge a couple of hours before use.
- Pour the quinoa and gluten free oats into the nutribullet or blender and blend until they form a flour.
- Zest the orange and set aside.
- Mix the ground quinoa and ground oats, baking powder and ground sweet cinnamon or ground cinnamon in the large mixing bowl and mix together.
- Cut the vegan butter, ghee or butter into chunks and put into the mixing bowl too.
- Add in the coconut sugar and cream these ingredients together with the electric whisk.
- Cut the orange in half and squeeze the juice with the fork or zester into the butter and sugar ingredients.
- Add in the orange essence but this is optional.
- Whisk these ingredients together again.
- Then finally add the flour ingredients to the ingredients in the other bowl.
- Mix until they form a large ball and use your hands to do so if you need to.
- Now stir or roll in the chocolate chips as well.
- Using the brown rice flour, roll out the dough.
- Roll out the dough to about a half centimetre thickness.
- Use the cutter and cut your biscuits.
- Repeat the process until you have used all the dough.
- Place the biscuits onto boards and put into the fridge for about thirty minutes.
- Putting them in the fridge will help these to go crunchy.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C or gas mark 4.
- Pre-line and grease a baking tray with grease proof paper.
- Place on the baking tray and bake for around 12 – 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Finally place on a cooling rack and leave to cool.
- Then serve with a nice cup of tea or coffee and enjoy.
Quinoa Orange Choc Chip Cookies were, as you may have already guessed, a big success. Howard, Ted and I loved these cookies. If you were looking for a slightly healthier recipe you could use raisins instead of chocolate chips. These biscuits will last for a couple of weeks when you store them in an airtight container. They make a great gift for friends and relatives. That’s if you can bear to give them away. If you can’t give these tasty treats up then the best way to enjoy them is with a nice cup of tea or coffee. However you decide to eat these cookies, as always, please enjoy. Thank you xxx
Googies Kitchen Life 