Double Chocolate Chip Quinoa Cookies

Double chocolate? No problem.

Sometimes a girl just needs her chocolate. Am I right?

Chocolate is just one of those things that makes our life better, right ladies? Sorry gents, I'm not trying to exclude you intentionally, but for us women chocolate is simply magical.

For me, when the chocolate craving hits, it hits hard. It's all I can think about and it won't stop until I find something that's full of chocolatey goodness. Sometimes it's a piece of dark chocolate, other times it's a rich chocolate cake. Then there's the chocolate cookie craving. That one is on a level of its own.

I'm not one who usually likes chocolate cookies. Many times I find them too sweet, not dark enough, and packed with extra ingredients that I just do not care for.

White chocolate chips? No thanks.

Macadamia nuts? I'll pass.

But oats? Carob chips? Bring it on.

It didn't take me long to come up with this recipe. Usually my recipes start from a craving or from inspiration from my fellow food bloggers, usually both. The same old, same old with this one. The chocolate craving hit as I was browsing Gluten-Free Goddess recipes, and my mind immediately started turning.

I knew I wanted a deeply chocolatey, light, flavorful cookie, but more importantly I wanted it to be healthy (well as healthy a cookie can be).

When making a healthier cookie, I like start with the flour and go from there. I try to incorporate the richer, more nutritious flours into my baked goods for added nutrients. For this cookie I chose buckwheat as my star. With its unique flavor, buckwheat brings a rich and earthy quality to baked goods and is one of my favorite ingredients to play around with. It's so tasty.

Double Chocolate Chip Quinoa Cookies

Being the queen of quinoa has it's perks. I get to play and experiment with this fabulous ingredient, trying to incorporate it into most of my recipes. This cookie recipe is no exception. Instead of using quinoa flour, like in my Vegan "Peanut Butter" Chocolate Cake or my Banana Bread Muffins, I used quinoa flakes.

Quinoa flakes are great in cookies because they behave very similarly to oats by bringing great texture, but they also bring the health benefits of this amazing little seed.

Double Chocolate Chip Quinoa Cookies
adapted from Gluten-Free Goddess
makes 12 cookies

ingredients:

• ¼ cup  + 2 tbsp buckwheat flour
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• ¼ cup tapioca starch
• ½ quinoa flakes
• ½ teaspoon guar gum
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ cup + 2 tbsp coconut sugar
• ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
• ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 tbsp organic Vermont Maple syrup
• 1 tbsp raw honey
• 1 large free range egg
• 1/2 cup raw carob chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flours, cocoa powder, quinoa flakes and other dry ingredients (minus the sugar) in medium mixing bowl and set aside.

Combine the wet ingredients and beat with the coconut sugar until creamed. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a large wooden spoon until you have a thick, cookie-like dough.

Spoon the dough on the parchment lined baking sheet. Smooth over with the back of a wet metal spoon and slightly flatten (this is optional, but make the cookies more uniform in shape).

Bake in the center of a warm oven for 12 - 16 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned and the top of the cookies is still slightly tender to the touch.

Cool on a wire rack for 5 - 10 minutes and enjoy!

Dunk these babies in a glass of almond milk (or regular milk if you so choose) and relish in the chocolatey goodness that you just created.