Orange Spiced Quinoa Cookie Recipe

By Chef Stacy Maple

Once Upon A Cookie

This recipe comes with a story. In 2013 I was living in Atlanta.  I worked as a private chef for a married couple in the trendy Buckhead area. He ate a strict vegan diet and she followed Weight Watchers like a religion. At Christmas that year, they asked if I could cater a holiday party in their home for a few of their closest friends. "Keep it simple," she told me. "It's a casual party. Just dessert."  Little did I know that the majority of their guests followed various restrictive diets too. "Two are gluten-free, another couple is vegan like my husband, my best friend is also a Weight Watcher and the Klamons follow the Fuhrman Diet. One more couple eats whatever they want and they hate all diet food," she said while rolling her eyes. Her keep-it-simple dessert request was about to be anything but!  After many attempts at developing a sweet treat that this mixed group of foodies would all enjoy, I created the Orange Spiced Quinoa Cookie. You can only imagine my relief and joy when she called the morning after the party to tell me, "They all loved the cookie! Our gluten free friends, the vegans, vegetarians, Weight Watchers and even the diet haters."  That was good enough for me!  

Orange Spiced Quinoa Cookie with Walnuts and Cranberries

 2 1/3 cups Cooked Quinoa

1/2 cup Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice

Zest from 1 Large Orange

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 ¼ cup Brown Rice Flour

3 TB Canola Oil

3 TB Apple Sauce

1 Cup dark Brown Sugar

1/2 large Banana, pureed

3 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup Chopped Walnut (or nut of choice)
1/2 cup Dried Cranberries (or Cherries)

Raw Sugar or Sanding Sugar

Whole Walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Stir together cooked Quinoa, Orange Juice and Orange Zest.  In separate bowl , mix Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Salt, Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Flour.  On low, in a mixer, cream Oil, Banana and Sugar until fully combined and then add Vanilla.  Slowly add dry ingredients into the sugar and oil mixture until well mixed.  Fold in the Quinoa, Nuts and Cranberries.  Batter will be wet and slightly sticky.

Drop batter by tablespoon on to a parchment or Silpat lined sheet pan, leaving plenty of space between cookies.   Press one whole Walnut on top of cookie to flatten out the batter, then sprinkle with raw sugar.  Bake for approximately 18-20 minutes or until edges are golden brown. 

Yields approximately 18 cookies.