Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies - Gluten Free!

millerll

Greetings, fellow MFPers!

With the holiday season upon us, I thought you might enjoy this recipe for gluten-free vegan chocolate chip cookies. The secret in these is quinoa flour and flakes. Quinoa is a super-food, if you've never heard of it. Personally, I'm neither gluten-intolerant nor vegan, but these are so good, they're worth making anyway! (The site I got the recipe from is listed at the end - check out her other recipes - yummy!)

A few notes: I used 2 eggs in place of the egg substitute since I'm not vegan. I also used regular semi-sweet chocolate chips in place of dairy-free ones. Also this recipe made way more than 24 cookies! Using the golf ball sized serving, I got 47 cookies out of this batch. Also, I found that the stated 22-25 minute baking time was a bit too long. The cookies ended up very crispy, so you might want to start with 20-21 minutes at first and see how they come out if you prefer chewier cookies.

Keep in mind that these are definitely NOT low-cal, but they are a healthier alternative to traditional Toll House cookies. Using the substitutions I listed above, the recipe came out as follows for each cookie:

Cals: 111
Carbs: 16 gms
Fat: 5 gms
Protein: 1 gm
Sugar: 11 gms
Sodium: 84 gms

Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies
These are now my favorite gluten-free cookies. Delicious, golden caramel flavor with a chewy quinoa center accented with dark chocolate chips. Heaven.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients:
3/4 cup Ancient Harvest Quinoa Flakes
1/2 cup Organic Quinoa Flour
1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour or potato starch (not potato flour!)
1 2/3 cups organic light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

In a large measuring cup blend:
2/3 cup light olive oil
3 tablespoons real maple syrup
1 tablespoon bourbon vanilla extract

Combine the wet and dry ingredients with a sturdy wooden spoon until you get a thick, sticky batter.

Make your egg replacement:
1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer
4 tablespoons warm water

Whip the egg replacer ingredients till foamy and frothy. [If you are adding eggs instead, beat two large free-range organic eggs; and omit the egg replacement formula.] Add the egg replacer to the batter and combine well. The dough should be thick and rather sticky.

Add:
3 to 4 tablespoons of warm water, as needed to achieve a cookie style dough that sticks together when you pinch it.

Stir in: 1 cup dairy-free dark chocolate chips

Stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Cover and chill the dough for 30 to 60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with an Exopat, Silpat, or lightly greased parchment.

Roll spoonfuls of the dough between your palms and form the dough into 24 balls (slightly smaller than a golf ball). Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheet and press down a bit to flatten slightly- not too much. Place the pan into the center of a pre-heated oven and bake until golden and set - about 22 to 25 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the center is almost firm. The cookies will still have a little give to them while hot; as they cool they will crisp up. Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to cool for a few minutes; then carefully remove the cookies with a thin spatula and place them on a wire rack to continue cooling. Lovely warm and melty. Store in a covered container for up to a day or wrap cooled cookies in recycled foil, bag and freeze for longer storage. Makes 24 cookies.

Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

Athena413

Quinoa flour? What's that? Just ground quinoa?? I have TONS of quinoa, but have never seen a flour version.

quitmakingexcuses

Awesome! Gonna def try this.

Samsara9

:drinker: Love it!!! I am a vegetarian, and am always looking for good Vegan cookie recipes!!

Samsara9

Quinoa flour? What's that? Just ground quinoa?? I have TONS of quinoa, but have never seen a flour version.

I bet you could just make it in the blender, or food processor (I make oat flour by just putting dry oats in the blender and processing till it is flour consistency). Just put a cup or two to start, and pulse until it looks right. I might try that myself, I have loads of Quinoa in my freezer.

millerll

I believe you can make your own quinoa flour by grinding the quinoa seeds. I'm sure if you Google it you'll find instructions.

I buy Bob's Red Mill brand quinoa flour. It's at my local grocery, commissary, and also in health food stores. Some of the other ingredients I could only get at the health food store - tapioca flour, sorghum flour, etc. Just getting the ingrediants turned into a bit of a treasure hunt!

On the other hand, I discovered a really nice health food store I'd never been to before, so it turned out for the good. Good luck!