Baking gets the serious cold shoulder in January, which shouldn’t be much of a surprise.

Holiday baking is at its peak Thanksgiving through Christmas with pies and cookies, but when the clock strikes midnight on New Years Eve, everything comes to an abrupt halt.

Resolutions mean the annual return to clean eating and with that, it’s a goodbye to dessert. Well, at least temporary one.  How long do resolutions really last anyway?

Too bad my sweet tooth doesn’t follow the calendar. I always like a little bite of something.

It didn’t feel right to bake the usual treats with white flour and lots of butter. On the flip side, I didn’t want to spend time whipping up a “healthy” dessert that didn’t taste like a real dessert.

I’m happy to say that these peanut butter quinoa blondies landed somewhere in the middle. They were just right.

Not too rich and they didn’t hint about their nutritious, non-standard ingredients.  

The blondies used less butter than the typical bar cookie because of the peanut butter. If you’re not a fan of peanuts, you can try another nut butter like almond or cashew.

I didn’t have any quinoa flour in my pantry, but I had actual quinoa.  That meant I could make the quinoa flour.

First, I toasted the grains in a skillet and let them cool to room temperature. Then I used a blender to transform them into flour. I put the flour through a fine mesh strainer, so there were no whole grains that got missed.

After creaming the butters and sugar and adding the eggs and vanilla extract, I folded in the dry ingredients followed by a cup of dark chocolate chunks. My kitchen was filled with the most wonderful smell of peanut butter as they baked.  The blondies turned out with a cakey consistency.

I experimented with cutting them in a standard 16 square grid, and then slicing each of those squares into 4. It was a game of portion size and self-control!

Peanut Butter Quinoa Blondies

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
• Total Time: 35-40 minutes + cooling
• Yield: Makes 16 squares

Ingredients

Non-stick cooking spray
1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup quinoa flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup dark chocolate chips or chunks

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan with non-stick cooking spray and line with parchment paper.

Use an electric mixer on medium speed to cream the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Beat in the eggs followed by the vanilla extract.

In a medium bowl, combine the quinoa flour, baking powder and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients followed by the chocolate chips. Spread the batter in an even layer in the prepared baking pan.

Bake 25-30 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs.  Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 45 minutes before cutting the bars into desired sizes.

Store in an airtight container.

Notes

Adapted fromEating Well March/April 2013

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