Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Trail Mix Chocolate Chip Quinoa Oatmeal Cookies


After my first failed attempt at adding cooked quinoa to cookies, I tried again knowing in my heart that it could be done.  I decided to give it another shot starting with this Bon Appetit recipe that I adapted to satisfy my chocolate craving and to make it a little healthier.



It was a success!  I ended up with a batch of soft, chewy cookies with some nice texture from the trail mix and oatmeal.  I'm not sure how the texture would have been different if I had used all purpose flour but we enjoyed the soft pillowy texture that these ended up with!



You can't really taste the quinoa in these and I don't think they miss the extra butter or sugar since I used semi-sweet chocolate chips and trail mix that included dried fruit - if you are going to use an all-nuts trail mix you may want to consider adding a little extra sugar to your cookie dough.  All in all, I'd say they were a pretty healthy take on what could have been a very decadent cookie.




Next time you're left with some cooked quinoa, give these cookies a try!  Feel free to halve this recipe, they'll still come out awesome.



Trail Mix Quinoa Oatmeal Cookies
makes 2 dozen cookies
adapted from Bon Appetit

1 cup Whole Wheat flour
1/2 cup spelt flour
scant 1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
2 TBSP lightly-packed brown sugar
2 TBSP honey
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup cooked quinoa, cooled
1 cup old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup trail mix (I used Trader Joe's Legendary Nut and Berry Mix - it contains a mixture of almonds, cranberries, raisins, cashews, blueberries, walnuts and raspberries)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and prepare two baking sheets by lining with silpats or parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda, and set aside.  Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat butter, both sugars and the honey until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.  Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat another 1-2 minutes until pale, fluffy and well combined.  With the mixer on low, add flour mixture in 3 increments, and mix just until combined.  Using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in quinoa, oats, trail mix and chocolate chips until combined.

Using your hands or a cookie dough scoop, drop 2'' balls of dough onto the prepared cookie sheets about 1'' apart.  The dough will be very sticky.

Bake cookies 12-15 minutes until lightly golden.  Remove trays from the oven and allow cookies to cool 2-3 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.  Store completely cooled cookies in an air-tight container 1-2 days or freeze.



Nutrition Information* (per cookie):  Kcal 130  |  Total Fat  5.9 grams  |  Fiber  2 grams   |  Protein 3 grams

*this Nutrition Information calculated based upon the trail mix I used:  Trader Joe's Legendary Nut and Berry Mix






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6 comments:

  1. Julia, I really love the nice little touches in your pictures! For example, adding the nuts and trail mix to the plate of cookies, along with that ice cold glass of milk was really the icing on the proverbial cake and really enhanced the sensory aspect of the picture!

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  2. My daughter is having her first birthday party this weekend, and I was looking for a healthy alternative to regular chocolate chip cookies, and this is it! Thanks for the recipe, I can't wait to try it out later today!

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    1. Oh that's awesome! Happy Birthday to your little girl :-) Thank you for stopping by!

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    2. I made these, and they turned out wonderful! I made them very tiny so they are bite sized, but they are delicious and a great way to use up some of my quinoa! Thanks again for the recipe. This will be in my regular rotation now!

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    3. Wonderful! So happy you liked them!

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