Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Cookie Love

Happy Belated National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day! I'm so glad that is a thing.


  Clark and I are trying to eat "healthier" these days. We both love baked goods, but they often lead to our over-consumption of (delicious) sugar. So, I was faced with a conundrum: honor the best cookie on planet Earth, or become a martyr for the sake of health. I decided to try to combine cookies and martyrdom, and the below recipe is what entailed.




   Even if you are not eating healthfully... even if you could not care less about calorie counts or eating "real" food, please, put down the package of Chips Ahoys and make this recipe right this very instant. It is a winner of a recipe. Y'all know I make fun of people who pin those chocolate chip cookie recipes that have like... garbanzo beans in them, right? These are NOT those cookies. They are delightfully perfect bar cookies, the only weird ingredient being Quinoa flour. I apologize for the price tag on Quinoa flour, but I promise these cookies are worth it. Quinoa is this amazing super grain containing perfect proteins and very few carbs. I thought it might make the cookies too dense or give them a grainy taste, but, miracle of miracles, it didn't! They were delightful. I've had two today.





Clark said I went a little heavy on the chocolate...
 Is that possible???

Here is the recipe. You're welcome.

Quinoa Cookie Bars

1/4 C butter, softened
3/4 C vanilla almond butter (I like Justin's)
2 large eggs
2/3 C packed light brown sugar
1/4 C honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 C quinoa flour (*If you can't find quinoa flour, I read that you can also make your own by grinding raw quinoa in a coffee grinder until it is a fine powder. Raw quinoa is  available in most grocery stores next to the rice.)
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, and then coat the parchment with cooking spray.
Beat the butter and almond butter in a mixing bowl until creamy. Add in eggs, one at a time, then the brown sugar, honey, and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the quinoa flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add a little bit of the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until it is all mixed and combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Bake for 25-35 minutes until golden brown (like a big, delicious, chocolate chip cookie). Let cool in the pan for 45 minutes.This is the hard part, but they have to cool in order to properly set up. If you try to take them out beforehand, they will just fall apart into a hot, delicious mess. After 45 long minutes, carefully lift the parchment to remove all the cookies out of the pan. Pour yourself a big glass of milk, cut a square, and ENJOY.