I’m loving all the healthy high protein ‘flour’ swaps i’m trying out at the moment. First it was with whole buckwheat groats (still plenty of those recipes to come) and now it’s also with quinoa.

I mentioned before that I was having a big quinoa kick this month, incorporating it in all sorts of recipes both sweet and savoury. It’d such a versatile ingredient and it’s nutritional profile is hard to beat.

I cook big batches of quinoa to freeze in cup sized portions, so it’s so easy to add to any recipe or salad at a moments notice.

This cookie experiment, therefore, took me literally minutes to throw together and was such a success I’ll definitely be trying it out again very soon. I used cacao nibs to make sure I kept to my sugar-free  Lent Challenge, you could also use regular dairy free dark chocolate chips if you prefer and for a little extra indulgence, I may well give this a go next time, although to be honest I quite liked the bitter crunchy contrast of the nibs.

The coconut flakes combined with the quinoa make for a really soft and chewy cookie but I have also since tried without the coconut. The peanut butter helps bind and gives a mildly peanutty taste but you could sub for cashew or almond butter if you want the chocolate to dominate.

Recipe: Chewy chocolate quinoa cookies

Makes 8 small cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked quinoa

• ¼ cup peanut butter (add a pinch of salt if not salted)

• ¼ cup homemade date syrup and a pinch of pure stevia (you could use 3 tbs maple syrup, coconut syrup or agave if you prefer)

• ¼ cup unsweeteneed dessicated coconut flakes

• ¼ cup cocoa nibs or dark choc chips

• ¼ cup cocoa powder

Method

Mix the peanut butter and date syrup, add a tiny touch of hot water if not already 'drippy'. Stir in the remaining ingredients until fully coated and sticky.

Scoop into fat cookie dollops and place on a lined baking sheet. Bake at a fairly low temperature (I opted for 160C so as not to risk burning the date syrup) for 10-15 minutes until slightly golden. The cookies will be soft when they come out of the oven and will firm up to touch as they cool but remain soft in the centre.

Note: I have since also made these adding one mashed banana which helps to sweeten and bind the mix even more. Reduce syrup/stevia accordingly to taste.