Over the last year or two, I've been learning about Quinoa and having fun playing with it in the kitchen. My friend Wendy Polisi, who I call the "Queen of Quinoa" has kindly shared this delightful recipe with us ~ in celebration of CHOCOLATE & QUINOA. Well...it's almost Valentine's Day.....so enjoy this edition of "Meatless Mondays" !!
Quinoa Chocolate Bars
Wendy: "This may be the only recipe that I’ve ever made and instantly said “I bet I could sell these!” Although I am not someone with much of a sweet tooth, I have to say that I have a hard time resisting these chocolate bars. The combination between the sweetness of the chocolate and the sea salt is a real winner in my book. To make these into bars, you will need a candy bar mold which you can pick up for less than $8. If you don’t want to do this, simply line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper."
½ cup quinoa, rinsed and dried
1 T coconut oil
1 lb chocolate cut into equal size pieces (any type will work – white, dark, milk, semi-sweet)***
1 cup almonds, toasted and chopped
1 teaspoon sea salt
After rinsing your quinoa, spread it out on a cookie sheet to dry. Alternatively, cook over low in a skillet until dry.
Place olive oil in a popcorn popper and allow to get warm. Add quinoa and cook about 5 minutes, until quinoa is lightly brown. Alternatively, pop the quinoa in a covered saucepan, shaking to prevent burning.
Spray candy bar molds with olive oil spray.
Melt chocolate in "bain marie" (double boiler), stirring constantly.
In a small bowl, combine popped quinoa, almonds and sea salt.
Add ¾ of mixture to chocolate. Pour chocolate into molds (or your prepared pan or baking sheet)
and top with remaining ¼ of the popped quinoa mixture.
Allow to sit until firm, about 2 hours. Break into pieces. (If you just can’t wait you can also put the chocolate into the freezer for 20-45 minutes, depending on the thickness of your chocolate bars.)
***For healthiest choice in Chocolate, buy good quality dark chocolate, organic if possible, with a high percentage of Cocoa. (Carol)
Wendy Polisi is the creator of CookingQuinoa.net and the Author of The Quintessential Quinoa Cookbook. To learn more about quinoa or to find more great quinoa recipes, please visit her on the web.
She will join us for a guest post here and there.. I 've asked her to share her expertise with a "QUINOA 101" post with all the tips to prepare Quinoa easily -- Don't miss it!
By the way, her cookbook is a work of art, with full colour pictures and detailed instructions! I have her online version as well!!
Enjoy!!
Leave a Reply