(no subject)
So instead of anything so mundane or necessary as work this evening, I baked! I'm still in the process of baking, actually, but I have sufficiently quality-control checked to determine that I want to record the results. Adventures in experimental vegetarian (although not vegan) baking FTW! Recipe ahoy!
Quinoa-Tahini-Sunflower Cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (125 mL) butter or margarine, softened
1 cup (250 mL) brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla
1/2 cup (125 mL) tahini paste
1 cup (250 mL) cooked quinoa (cook 1/3 cup for 1 cup cooked)
2-2 1/4 cups (250-315 mL) flour
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
1/4 cup (60 mL) sunflower seeds
Ingredient notes: I used butter. For a vegan version, you could try substituting vegan margarine and a flax egg substitute for the butter and eggs. I also used mostly whole wheat flour; if you're using white flour and the dough is too wet, add a little more flour.
Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
2) Cream together butter and margarine until smooth/well mixed/your arm gets sore. Cream eggs into butter and sugar, then add vanilla and tahini paste and mix well. Add cooled cooked quinoa and stir until evenly mixed.
3) In a separate bowl, stir together flour, salt, and baking soda.
4) Mix dry ingredients into liquid ingredients/quinoa and stir until flour is all mixed in. Stir in sunflower seeds until evenly mixed. The dough will be a similar stiffness to typical cookie doughs, but a little more sticky, and slightly translucent in appearance. As far as I can tell, both these are due to the quinoa.
5) Drop dough onto cookie sheets in whatever-sized amounts seem good to you. I made 44 cookies of around 5 cm in diameter. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or longer if you want them crispier or like them bigger. The quinoa seems to demand extra baking time.
I'm quite pleased - I think a little more tweaking might be in order (less baking soda, for instance, and fresher whole wheat flour), but the basic taste is good (a very mild sesame taste, and not overly sweet), and the structure is decent. They turned out a little bit soft and cakey, rather than dense and chewy like I'd ideally like them to be, but definitely worth further experimentation. I adapted the recipe very freely from an applesauce-oatmeal cookie recipe in Rogers Foods 50th Anniversary Recipe Collection to give me a sense of proportions, but I think I can more or less claim it as my own, with a little more work.
This is what happens when you have extra quinoa to use up, and all the quinoa cookie recipes you find are either gluten-free or call for quinoa flakes, not the aftermath of accidentally cooking a cup of raw quinoa instead of ending up with a cup of cooked quinoa.
Anyway, I'll report back on how they taste when they're fully cool, and also if I make them again and modify them.
Oh yeah, and they have protein. Quinoa is a very good source of protein, as are tahini and sunflower seeds. And they have fibbers too. OM NOM NOM.
Quinoa-Tahini-Sunflower Cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (125 mL) butter or margarine, softened
1 cup (250 mL) brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla
1/2 cup (125 mL) tahini paste
1 cup (250 mL) cooked quinoa (cook 1/3 cup for 1 cup cooked)
2-2 1/4 cups (250-315 mL) flour
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
1/4 cup (60 mL) sunflower seeds
Ingredient notes: I used butter. For a vegan version, you could try substituting vegan margarine and a flax egg substitute for the butter and eggs. I also used mostly whole wheat flour; if you're using white flour and the dough is too wet, add a little more flour.
Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
2) Cream together butter and margarine until smooth/well mixed/your arm gets sore. Cream eggs into butter and sugar, then add vanilla and tahini paste and mix well. Add cooled cooked quinoa and stir until evenly mixed.
3) In a separate bowl, stir together flour, salt, and baking soda.
4) Mix dry ingredients into liquid ingredients/quinoa and stir until flour is all mixed in. Stir in sunflower seeds until evenly mixed. The dough will be a similar stiffness to typical cookie doughs, but a little more sticky, and slightly translucent in appearance. As far as I can tell, both these are due to the quinoa.
5) Drop dough onto cookie sheets in whatever-sized amounts seem good to you. I made 44 cookies of around 5 cm in diameter. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or longer if you want them crispier or like them bigger. The quinoa seems to demand extra baking time.
I'm quite pleased - I think a little more tweaking might be in order (less baking soda, for instance, and fresher whole wheat flour), but the basic taste is good (a very mild sesame taste, and not overly sweet), and the structure is decent. They turned out a little bit soft and cakey, rather than dense and chewy like I'd ideally like them to be, but definitely worth further experimentation. I adapted the recipe very freely from an applesauce-oatmeal cookie recipe in Rogers Foods 50th Anniversary Recipe Collection to give me a sense of proportions, but I think I can more or less claim it as my own, with a little more work.
This is what happens when you have extra quinoa to use up, and all the quinoa cookie recipes you find are either gluten-free or call for quinoa flakes, not the aftermath of accidentally cooking a cup of raw quinoa instead of ending up with a cup of cooked quinoa.
Anyway, I'll report back on how they taste when they're fully cool, and also if I make them again and modify them.
Oh yeah, and they have protein. Quinoa is a very good source of protein, as are tahini and sunflower seeds. And they have fibbers too. OM NOM NOM.