Quinoa: Not just for salads and sides

SELFeats: Quinoa Brownies for Kids, Adults…Everyone!

I was skeptical at first, but this new recipe is just as delicious as the brownie recipe I've been using for over a decade.

I am, in general, not a fan of food that pretends to be something it is not. If I want ice cream, I eat ice cream. A latte? You better believe it’s with whole milk. And on those rare occasions I crave a Coca-Cola, it’s the real thing—as the old tag line goes—fizzing in my glass.

So when I received a pre-release exclusive look at The Sweet Side of Ancient Grains, a dessert cookbook (it’s available April 20, but you can pre-order it here) from blogger and food photographer Erin Dooner, I was skeptical. The brownie recipe I’ve been using for over a decade yields squares of rich, dense, chocolaty goodness that I can’t imagine improving upon.

But I was willing to give this recipe a go for a couple reasons. One, it’s my job, and two, I’d tried another recipe from the cookbook—Peach Apricot Oat Bars—and it managed to massively outperform my expectations. So, on a recent Saturday, I made a special trip to my local health food store to buy a sack of quinoa flour and some Dutch processed cocoa and hunkered down for a long afternoon of baking.

The first step is the most crucial: You have to cook, at a very low temperature, the quinoa flour on a parchment-lined baking sheet in the oven. You do this for two and a half hours. Yes, that long. Dooner explains why: “The flavor of the quinoa flour was bitter, grassy-tasting, and totally overpowered by the chocolate. Luckily I discovered a fix—toasted quinoa flour!” When it is in the oven, the quinoa will give off what Dooner calls a bitter smell. I smelled something close to roasting asparagus—not terribly unpleasant but a little unexpected if you haven’t been forewarned.

After the flour has cooked and cooled you mix it with cocoa, baking powder and salt and set aside. The recipe basically calls for a 1:1 mix of Dutch-process cocoa powder to toasted quinoa flour. This may seem like a lot of cocoa or not enough flour but it’s not. Just go with it.

 Next you grab another bowl and mix together one cup of unsalted butter or coconut oil (I made mine with salted butter as I feel like that extra hint of salt heightens the flavor of the chocolate), one and a half cups of sugar (I used a scant cup of raw cane sugar and that was plenty) vanilla and eggs. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together and pour into a parchment-lined baking pan. The whole thing bakes in 23-28 minutes. Cool, cut and serve.

If you’re sharing these brownies with friends, you may decide not to tell them about the quinoa flour until after they’ve taken a taste. Or you may decide not to mention it at all. My kids, who are capable of ferreting out a lone tablespoon of avocado in their banana smoothies, couldn’t tell these were made with anything other than traditional ingredients. And because the quinoa gives these brownies a boost of protein, fiber, vitamin and minerals, I feel less guilty letting my brood eat them for breakfast—with a glass of whole milk, of course.

Quinoa Brownies

Quinoa is often referred to as a grain because it’s cooked and used like one, but it’s actually a seed and not a grain. So these gooey and fudgy brownies are actually grain-free if you use 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar and 1/8 teaspoon baking soda in place of the baking powder. (Cornstarch, which is not grain-free, is a filler that is used to keep ingredients separated and is often found in baking powder.)
Although this recipe works with whole-wheat flour (using 1 cup + 2 tablespoons, or 141 grams), the texture isn’t nearly as nice as the quinoa-flour version.

The whole-wheat version is also much more cakey. If you prefer a whole-wheat version, I recommend that you make the Teff Espresso Hazelnut Brownies (page 85). Omit the espresso powder and hazelnuts, if desired. You could also try the Ultra-Fudgy Brownies (page 79) if you’re in the mood for something super rich and decadent!

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 28 minutes
Ready in: 43 minutes, plus cooling
Yield: 16–20 brownies
Gluten-Free: Roasted quinoa flour
Dairy-Free: Coconut oil, Dairy-free chocolate chips, or other add-ins

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (126 grams) roasted quinoa flour
• 1 cup (115 grams) Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted if lumpy
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (225 grams) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated sugar or unrefined sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup (115 grams) add-ins, if desired (chopped nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruit, candy pieces, etc.)

METHOD
Preheat the oven to 325°F (163°C). Line an 8 × 8-inch (20 × 20 cm) baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on opposite ends.
In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the quinoa flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the melted butter or coconut oil, sugar, and vanilla. Add in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Fold in the flour mixture just until very few streaks of flour remain. Gently fold in the add-ins if using.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 23 to 28 minutes or until the edges are fully baked and a toothpick inserted in one of the edges comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan and cut into squares. Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
TIP
If you’ve never made American-style brownies before (or maybe even if you have!), you’re probably looking at the large amount of sugar in this recipe and wondering if it’s a typo. It isn’t. To get that fudgy, gooey texture that makes a brownie a brownie, you really do need a lot of sugar. Feel free to reduce the amount of sugar to make a slightly cakier, less chewy brownie.

The Sweet Side of Ancient Grains: Decadent Whole Grain Brownies, Cakes, Cookies, Pies and More, by Erin Dooner, The Countryman Press 2015.