Decadent Chocolate Quinoa Pudding

This past weekend we celebrated Christmas in Calgary with the Wiebe clan! One of my lovely gifts from Mom and Dad Wiebe was this beautiful new cookbook called "Quinoa 365"! The book itself is just so pretty to look at, let alone the recipes! So here marks the start of trying each recipe out. This one got thumbs up all around in our house!

Many recipes in this book call for Quinoa Flour...a type of flour I've never used before, but had no trouble finding at our local health food store. In fact, they carried 4 or 5 different brands of it!

Of course this would look MUCH prettier topped with some fresh whip and maybe a few berries too? I wish I would have had some fresh whipping cream on hand so I could have tried out my other fabulous Christmas gift!



This recipe takes about 5 minutes to make, and yields 6 portions...gotta love that! Like many things in our home, all were gone in less than 24 hours! I should let you know though that you definitely taste the quinoa in this pudding...perhaps adding extra chocolate would mask that more?...so if you're not a fan of that taste, then this recipe may not be for you. For the rest of us though, you'll find this to be a rich decadent dessert filled with protein! Jay topped his second helping with a dollop of peanut butter....GREAT idea!

Decadent Chocolate Quinoa Pudding

1/2 cup quinoa flour
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup ricotta cheese (I used mediterranean plain yogurt, cause that's what I had on had...totally worked, yet I think the ricotta would taste a little better)

Combine the flour and water in a pot on medium heat. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens and the water has been absorbed, 3 to 5 minutes. Don't worry if lumps form, these will disappear later. Remove from the heat, immediately add the chocolate chips and stir until melted. Stir in the ricotta cheese. Use a food processor or blender to puree the mixture until smooth. (I skipped this step since I used smooth yogurt rather than the ricotta) Poor into desert bowls and refrigerate until chilled.

I think next time I may even add a pinch of cinnamon or instant coffee?!

Jay asked me on the way out the door this afternoon if I could make this again today...I think I may give the Chocolate Almond Biscotti on page 139 a try instead! I'll let you know how it turns out!

*made this recipe again tonight....added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and about 3 or 4 tbsp of peanut butter right after the chocolate chips...AMAZING...and kills the quinoa taste a little for those wondering how to do that:)

Soft & Chewy Ginger Sticks

Hands down the most requested recipe of mine!! Jay is my number one fan when it comes to these guys. When we were first married I would sometimes surprise him and bake them in the middle of the summer...he LOVED that! This past year we held off and waited until the Christmas season...and for one very valid reason. Jay and I did a 'homemade Christmas' last year...I highly recommend it....it was his idea actually! My brilliant gift to him was 365 Soft & Chewy Ginger Sticks!!! One for every day of the year!! Won wife of the year for that gift...only problem was that they were gone after about 6 weeks!! I will vouch for him and say that he did share some of them:)

So here it is...a very simple, one bowl, cookie recipe...gotta love that!! Always a hit...I even had a friend who despises molasses give them a try and she was left speechless!

These are very pretty sprinkled with a little light sugar right before baking..and even with a little crystallized ginger and white chocolate drizzle too! In the Wiebe house we prefer them plain...who's kidding who...they don't last long enough to cool and drizzle!!

Today marked the first double-batch of the season...we're heading to Calgary tomorrow to celebrate an early Christmas with the Wiebe's!...thought they'd make for a nice Christmas treat to share...and I'll be sure to pack a separate little container for Jay to enjoy in the truck while driving!

Soft & Chewy Ginger Sticks

1/2 cup raw cane sugar...or sugar of choice
1/2 cup olive or coconut oil (coconut is much better)
1/4 cup molasses
1 tablespoon almond milk
1 egg
2 cups flour (I use whole wheat or spelt)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon cloves
4 teaspoon sugar (for garnishing on top)

1. Heat oven to 375 F. In large bowl, mix 1/2 cup sugar, the oil,
molasses, milk and egg with spoon. Stir in remaining ingredients
except 4 teaspoon sugar.



2. Divide dough. On ungreased cookie sheet, I use parchment to keep my pans clean, lightly spread out dough like photo shows. Score tops with fork.



3. Bake for 8 minutes or until edges are light brown and tops
appear cracked; cool 5 minutes. Cut each strip crosswise into 1 inch
slices.

4. Let cool for a few more minutes before removing from pan.

Do not let them over bake, unless you prefer a more crispy ginger stick!

For those of you now wondering what Jay made me for our homemade Christmas...he bought a beautiful apothecary jar and filled it with homemade body scrub...epsom salts mixed with coconut oil...still working my way through it and loving it! Looks beautiful beside my sink in the bathroom! A great gift idea for anyone:)

Starbucks "Christmas" Gingerbread Loaf

Alright...no photo yet of this one since it gets gobbled up WAY too quickly! However, I can guarantee that the majority of you know exactly what loaf I am talking about that Starbucks carries this glorious time of year! It's amazing. I tweaked with this recipe last Christmas season when the loaf was reintroduced to me through Starbucks.

I knew that I could not fully enjoy their version of it for two reasons. One, I had my baby weight from Levi to deal with. Two, I knew theirs had zero nutritional value in it!

It's wonderful and amazing, with tea or coffee or steamed milk...and makes a wonderful hostess gift (especially when topped with a thin layer of cream cheese frosting and chunks of candied ginger!)

This is one of those Christmas recipes that I limit myself to making only during November and December to keep it special...it's that good!

Starbucks "Christmas" Gingerbread Loaf

1 1/2 cups spelt or whole wheat flour
2 tsps ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground cloves
2 tsps ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, or coconut oil, softened
1/2 cup maple syrup or agave
1 cup applesauce
1 tsp baking soda

FROSTING (OPTIONAL)
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan.
In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and salt.
Then set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and syrup until fluffy.

Mix baking soda into applesauce and stir into creamed butter mixture.
Add flour mixture. Mix until smooth.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until a
toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

FROSTING:
Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Slowly beat in confectioner’s sugar.

Once the cake has cooled, evenly spread the frosting on top. Decorate with chopped candied orange peel or candied ginger .