When Elise mentioned doing a blog post about Thanksgiving food, I was all over dessert. Desserts and sweets are my favorite part of any meal, but I always have a hard time finding one that is delicious and semi-healthy. In my experience, you get one or the other. I went on a mission for the #FixxFam to find a recipe for the holiday that was delicious, semi healthy and more importantly quick!
With that being said, I introduce to you , Quinoa Molasses Ginger Cookies. These bite sized babes pack quite a flavorful punch and remind me of my favorite gingerbread cookies. The wonderful part is you can splurge and add a little cream cheese icing to enhance these sinful creations (favorite recipe found later in this post!)
Ingredients for cookies:
- 3/4 cup dry quinoa
- 1.5 cups whole wheat Flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
- 2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon (the recipe calls for 1 but I’m a sucker for cinnamon, so I doubled)
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup of butter
- 1/2 cup of brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup molasses
Recipe for cookies:
- Preheat the over to 350 degrees
- Lightly spray a cookie sheet and set aside
- Grind the quinoa in a food processor until it becomes a powder. It is okay if there are some chunks of quinoa still! My food processor is older than I am, so my cookies had a nice, delicious crunch element to them!
- In a bowl, combine the quinoa powder, flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt and set aside.
- In a second bowl, beat in the butter, brown sugar, egg, and molasses until a smooth mixture is formed. Once smooth, stir in the flour mixture until a thick dough forms.
- Using your hands, roll the dough into small balls and place on your cookie sheet.
- Put the sheet in the over and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the bottoms are a nice golden brown.
- Remove from the over, and flatten the cookies with your spatula. Let cookies cool for one minute before moving to a cooling rack.
Ingredients for cream cheese icing:
- 4 cups of powered sugar
- 1/2 cup of softened butter
- 8 oz of softened cream cheese
- 3 teaspoons of vanilla
Directions for cream cheese icing:
- Add cream cheese, butter, and vanilla to your bowl. I always start with 2 teaspoons of vanilla, then determine if I want to add the other teaspoon to the mix. Mix until the ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Add powered sugar to the mix. You can sift the sugar if lumpy, but I usually mix on low until the clumps are broken up.
- If you find that the mixture is not thick like an icing should be, just add more powered sugar!
You can decorate the cookies with the icing, or put it in a bowl to dip in. If you really like the warmth that spices provide, you can always make this pumpkin flavored.
Happy Thanksgiving, crew! Enjoy!
