Recipe: No-Bake Chocolate Quinoa Cookies
Photo by Emily McLaughlin
You read that correctly: These are quinoa cookies.
Quinoa, the protein-packed grain you see everywhere these days, isn’t just for your salad, grain bowl, and pizza crust. Mixed with dates, cacao powder, and nut butter, quinoa makes a great no-bake, gluten-free cookie base. Don’t knock it ’til you try it.
Ingredients
Makes roughly a dozen cookies
- 1 Tbsp coconut oil
- ½ cup dates, pitted and packed
- ¼ cup raw, unsalted, and unsweetened almond butter
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup quinoa, cooked
- ½ cup cacao powder (cocoa powder works, too)
- Optional: raw cacao nibs, mini chocolate chips, or coconut flakes
Directions
Cook a batch of quinoa ahead of time. (Use any extra for your weekly meal prep.) In a small bowl, soak your dates in water for at least 30 minutes.
When the prep work is done, heat one tablespoon of coconut oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Roughly chop the soaked dates and add them to the saucepan, along with the almond butter and vanilla extract.
Stir the contents of the saucepan over medium heat, until the dates melt down. Remove the pan from heat to add in the cooked quinoa and cacao powder. Finally, stir in any optional ingredients, such as chocolate chips, cacao nibs, or coconut flakes.
When the mixture is cool enough to handle, start forming cookies with your hands. Place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, and chill in the fridge or freezer before serving.
These cookies keep in the fridge for about one week, and even longer in the freezer.
