Holiday Quinoa Cookies!

So I’m sure you are all thinking, “why the heck did this guy name his blog lentils if he only ever writes about quinoa?” Well, I love both, sorta like my relationship with kale and collards. When it comes to nutritious food, I'm non-monogamous.  

The other reason is it’s the holidays and many of my friends and family who will be celebrating with me have been pressuring me to make something special, ie: they don’t want to eat lentils and collards on Christmas.

So here is my compromise! Unprocessed yet super delicious, stress busting, high-in-protein and antioxidants Quinoa Banana Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies! I got the recipe from none-other than Sequel Naturals’ holistic nutritionist Peggy Kotsopoulos, so you know it is healthy!

The Goods

The recipe is really simple, doesn't require any special equipment and tastes similar to oatmeal cookies that I’ve had in the past.

Here’s what you do.

First, mash 4 ripe bananas in a large mixing bowl. Not only will these guys be adding all of their super healthy nutrients such as potassium (a necessary nutrient to aid in muscle recovery) but they also act as a binding agent. Making the need for eggs completely unnecessary.

Then add 1 cup cooked quinoa, (this is about ½ cup dry measure) unsweetened shredded coconut flakes, unrefined Palm Sweet Coconut Sugar (more on this ingredient below), uncooked quinoa flakes (more on this ingredient below), and just a tiny bit of organic vanilla extract to the mixing bowl. Mix well with a spoon.

After you are done mixing the batter, open an Organic MacaSure Chocolate Bar by Sequel (note: any dark, vegan chocolate bar will work, however the Maca in the MacaSure bar claims to give added nutritional benefits such as stress reducing capabilities as well as an increased libido! "I'm interested!")

MacaSure Chocolate is available at Whole Foods and Amazon!

Using a sharp knife, cut the chocolate bar into small chunks to replicate chocolate chips. After cutting up the entire bar, add the chocolate chunks to the batter and mix again.

Using a tablespoon, scoop out a small ball from the mixture and place onto a cookie sheet.

I apparently don’t have cookies sheets, so I had to use my pyrex glass baking pan.

At this point, try not to eat the cookie batter. This is more difficult than it sounds as this batter is seriously tasty!

After using all of the mixture, place the cookie sheets in a preheated oven at 180˚. Cook at this temperature for roughly 20-25 minutes depending on how brown you want the cookies. 

So at this point you are probably curious about Quinoa flakes and Palm Sweet Coconut Sugar. Quinoa flakes have many of the same benefits that quinoa possesses. High in protein and other vital nutrients such as Phosphorus and Riboflavin, Quinoa flakes are naturally gluten free. Sold in the cereal aisle, quinoa flakes make a great oatmeal replacement for mornings on the run but can also be used for baking. 

Delicious! 

Palm Sweet Coconut Sugar is becoming the new "hot" commodity in the sweetener world. While Dr. Greger of NutritionFacts.org recommends using Date Sugar, there is considerable buzz around Sweet Palm Coconut Sugar. Having a low glycemic index and rich in vitamin C, B vitamins, iron, zinc, potassium, and magnesium, Coconut Sugar appears to be an excellent sweetener replacement. Now, I really like the flavor of coconut so I wasn’t able to tell if this sugar gave off a coconut taste, however if you don’t like coconut, I would suggest trying date sugar in this recipe. Simply use Coconut Sugar at 1:1 ratio for sugar in other recipes as well for a more nutritious outcome. Not only is it healthy but perhaps the best thing about it, is that it’s not any more expensive than other sugars!

Okay, it's time to go an take advantage of this beautiful 55˚ December day!

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

Banana Coconut Quinoa Cookies

4 bananas –mashed

1 cup cooked quinoa

1 cup quinoa flakes

3/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

½ cup coconut sugar or date sugar

½ teaspoon of vanilla extract

½ cup chopped organic dark chocolate or blueberries

Preheat oven to 380 degrees

Put all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well

Using a tablespoon scoop small balls of mixture onto cookie sheets

Cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes