Are you, like me, trying to clean out some of the clutter in your life?
I’ve started with my pantry. I’m always buying weird ingredients for recipes and then tossing the remainder in the closet and forgetting about them. I’ve been working on getting rid of all the odds and ends that have accumulated. Of course I can’t just throw them away, so I began to research recipes to use up my stash.
This recipe fit the bill perfectly. Peanut butter and honey? Yum! But, also an ingredient that was sitting in my pantry.
Quinoa!
Quinoa is a high fiber grain that is: gluten-free, high in protein, contains all nine essential amino acids, plus magnesium, B vitamins, iron, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin E and lots of other antioxidants. But, my husband doesn’t like it. Hence, the leftover bag in the pantry.
So, hiding it in cookies sounded like the perfect idea.
QUINOA COOKIES
- ¾ cup flour (whole wheat, gluten-free or regular)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup peanut butter
- ½ cup of honey
- ¼ cup of brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 ¾ cup of cooked and cooled quinoa
- Add-ins: ½ cup chocolate chips or peanuts
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, mix the peanut butter, honey, brown sugar and the egg together until smooth. Add in the dry ingredients just until blended. Mix in the quinoa and add-ins (if desired).
Drop by tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 13-15 minutes or until light brown. Let cool for five minutes before removing onto cooling racks.
Note: If you use shelf-stable peanut butter, you can roll the dough into balls and make a fork crisscross before baking. I used natural peanut butter, so I used the drop method.
The result was that my husband loved the cookies (with peanuts as an add-in) and I got rid of one of the bags from my pantry! I call that a win-win!
