Quinoa Cocoa-nut bits: crowd source test kitchen

Recently RantWoman faced a peculiar crisis:

--a desire for something cookie-ish

--no desire whatsoever for usual standby cookie favorites, such as oatmeal-raisin, regular peanut butter, no-bake peanut butter-oatmeal.

RantWoman's kitchen also featured a certain set of ingredients needing to be turned into food such as quinoa.

What the heck was RantWoman to do with quinoa? RantWoman knows to make beans and qunioa but RantWoman is happy enough making beans and rice on autopilot.

RantWoman's palette still regrets one of her what not to do experiments: quinoa cooked in orange juice, honey. RantWoman does not remember what all went into the test pot but it was inedible.

RantWoman was INTRIGUED by the following item.

Quinoa cocoanut bites

http://veganyackattack.com/2012/10/03/cocoa-nut-quinoa-bites/?utm_source=rss

 Even so, RantWoman could not leave well enough alone. Nor, fortunately, was she displeased by substitutions:

--RantWoman used crunchy rather than  creamy peanut butter

--RantWoman used a half cup of peanut butter mainly for binding because RantWoman refuses to buy maple syrup.

--RantWoman uses budget peanut butter which tends already to be sweetened so RantWoman used about 1/4 cup of additional  sugar, mixed in while the quinoa was still warm.

--RantWoman now also has coconut oil but has been doing fine reducing the amount and using a little canola oil but this is another  reason for more peanut butter.


RantWoman has yet to have any bites left over when  she has guests to feed them to. This is why RantWoman needs to rave in her blog!
















Cocoa-nut Quinoa Bites


Author: Jackie of Vegan Yack Attack

Recipe type: Dessert, SnackPrep time: 30 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 50 mins Serves: 16 Delicious and easy to make, no-bake, Cocoa-nut Quinoa Bites!

Ingredients
•3 C. Cooked Quinoa (I steam cooked 1 cup of quinoa with 2.5 cups of water for 20 mins.)
•1/4 C. Raw Cacao Powder
•1/3 C. Maple Syrup
•3 Tbsp. Creamy Peanut Butter
•1 Tbsp. Coconut Oil
•3/4 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
•3/4 tsp. Vanilla Extract
•1/4 C. Unsweetened Shredded Coconut

Instructions

1.After you are done cooking the quinoa, place it into a large bowl (while it is still warm) and stir all of the ingredients other than the coconut into it.

2.Make sure to stir and fold it together so that everything is evenly combined. Because of the warmth of the quinoa, the peanut butter and coconut oil should melt and stir into it relatively easy.

3.Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with wax or parchment paper, or a SilPat if you have one, and spoon 2 tbsp.-sized mounds onto it. No need to worry about the spacing as they will not expand.

4.Place the baking sheet into the refrigerator for 30-40 mins. Get a shallow bowl or small plate ready with the shredded coconut for rolling the bites in.

5.Once time is up, take the baking sheet out of the refrigerator and roll the mounds in between your palms until they are spherical. Then roll them around the coconut shreds to coat the outside.

6.Put them back into the refrigerator for 2 hours or more for them to fully firm up. Snack on them as you please!

Notes

Potassium: 5.7mg Calcium: 2% Iron: 7.7% All nutrition facts are approximate.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 1 "Bite" Calories: 100 Fat: 4g Saturated fat: 1.8g Carbohydrates: 13.9g Sugar: 4.7g Sodium: 18.1mg Fiber: 1.7g Protein: 2.5g Cholesterol: 0

Recipe by Vegan Yack Attack at http://veganyackattack.com/2012/10/03/cocoa-nut-quinoa-bites/

3.1.08
creamy vs crunchy peanut butter: RantWoman has high tolerance for pieces of peanuts. Plus RantWoman tends not to have a lot of creamy peanut butter around the house.

Maple syrup? Also not so much, so adjust oil, peanut butter, sweeten otherwise
   raw sugar? What happen to quinoa if cook in the steamining proess?

coconut oil: probably good for fridge  texture; RantWoman substituted canola oill

sweetened vs unsweetened coconut: sweetened seemed fine but would be too much with full sweetening too.

1/4 v cocoa: would be nice. RantWoman used somewhat less and found the sense of detectible chocolate agreeable enough for her tastes,

3 Tbsp PB upped to 1/2 cup


Small updates:

--RantWoman tends to let the balls cool and dry on her counter rather than in the refrigerator. Leave uncovered so any condensing steam dries.
--RantWoman recently was visiting her buddies the Weed Whacking Wenches. They make quinoa for breakfast by cooking it in a can of coconut milk. Rant Woman is thinking about trying that for this recipe instead of  some of the coconut oil and sweetening.

--Maybe one of these days, RantWoman will test how well the balls do in the freezer. This assumes RantWoman has enough balls to need to freeze them. That has not been RantWoman's experience so far. The balls just get eaten. Yum!
test freezerworthiness