I’ve been dying to try some recipes out using quinoa in baking.  I am not sure why, except that I love quinoa (it’s a superfood!), and thus far, I’ve only used it in savory dishes.  I cooked up a batch yesterday in my rice cooker and experimented with 3 different treats.  No recipe, just throwing in things I thought would taste good.  All three desserts got different votes for “favorite” from the 7 taste testers.  Overall, a success I think!  I’ll be posting the other recipes soon.

This one was my favorite.  It’s super moist, delicious, and healthy too.  It has no added sugar, but is plenty sweet due to the dates and bananas.  Oh, and it is so incredibly easy to make!  I will never make another banana bread again!  Add a cream cheese frosting and it would be DECADENT!!  Mmmmm….Ingredients (Made 6 muffins, or might make small loaf)

• 1 Cup cooked Quinoa
• 2 brown spotted bananas
• 1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Medjul Dates
• 1/4 teaspoon pure Vanilla
• 3 grinds of Sea Salt (aka not very much :))
• 1 Tablespoon unsweetened shredded coconut (can get super cheap in the bulk section of a health food store)

Directions

You can do all of it in the Cuisinart or mixing bowl.  One dish-easy clean up-WIN!!

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Throw everything into a Cuisinart/Mixer and blend until creamy.
• Put into muffin tins, greased loaf, or greased ramicans (that’s what I used)
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until top is firm and lightly golden.  I’m a firm believer in undercooking when baking.  It will continue to bake after you take it out, so if you wait until it’s completely firm it’s too done.  You can always do the toothpick test.  Insert a toothpick and if it comes out clean, it’s done.  If it has batter still on it, not yet done.
• Sprinkle with unsweetened coconut flakes.
• These are really moist.  I’m not sure why.  They don’t do well if you seal them up in a container, so just leave them out and they will not dry out.
  ENJOY!

Nutritional Facts (I entered all the ingredients into Calorie Count)

Serves 6 //  Calories per muffin- 120 // Total Fat- 4.1g // Saturated Fat- 2.5g // Cholestererol- 55mg // Sodium- 99mg // Potassium- 198mg // Total Carbohydrates-20.2g // Dietary Fiber-2.1 // Sugars- 9.6g // Protein- 3.4g