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