The Way to His Heart

They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.  For the most part, my man could exist on protein shakes, bananas, and bowls of cereal.  He'll enjoy an incredible meal that I make, but he'd rather spend time with me than enjoy the taste of the results of my three hours of cooking in the kitchen.  So the way to his heart is definitely not through his stomach.

But I did learn, early on, that one of the ways to his heart was through chocolate chip cookie dough.  Not chocolate chip cookies.  Just the dough.

The Husband and I met at the very beginning of our freshman year of college.  At the time, I had no idea what cooking or baking was about.  And I also had no idea that I was gluten intolerant.  The only cookie that I'd ever made from scratch was chocolate chip cookies using the Tollhouse recipe from the back of the Nestle chocolate chip package. 

Well, I was quite smitten by a certain Man living in the dorm next door.  So, I signed out my dorm kitchen for a few hours on a Saturday afternoon, made a batch of chocolate chip cookies for him, and sent the warm cookies up to his floor in a brown shipping box.  Apparently, this certain Man wasn't the only one who enjoyed the aromatic package.  I think half the floor wanted to date me after tasting those cookies.  Maybe I ran out of baking time, maybe it was the fact that he kept a roll of frozen cookie dough in his dorm fridge, maybe it was that I knew his favorite ice cream was Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, or maybe it was just fate.  But I also sent up a little extra cookie dough in a baggie.

Apparently, for the Husband-In-Training, cookie dough is the way to a man's heart.

Most women smack their husband's hands when they dip into the cookie batter.  We just have an understanding.  He gets the dough.  I get the cookies.  Win-win.

Last month, glutenfreegoddess posted a recipe for chocolate chip cookies using quinoa.  I was instantly intrigued as quinoa is one of my staples.  I use whole quinoa for side salads.  I use quinoa flakes for a delicious hot cereal breakfast, but I've never used quinoa to make cookies.  It was time to change that.  I modified her recipe slightly, and I was really happy with the results.  So was the Husband.

Quinoa Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from glutenfreegoddess

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the following dry ingredients:

3/4 cup Ancient Harvest Quinoa Flakes
1/2 cup Organic Quinoa Flour

1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour

1 2/3 cups organic light brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

 

In a large measuring cup blend:

2/3 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons real maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon Kahlua (definitely MY addition)

Combine the wet and dry ingredients until you get a thick, sticky batter.  Then beat in two large eggs.  Finally, stir in 1 cup of dark chocolate chips.

 

Cover and chill the dough for 30 to 60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with lightly greased parchment paper.  Now for the fun part.

 

I used a melon baller to get cute little uniform balls of dough, but you can roll spoonfuls of the dough between your hands to form the little balls.  Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheet and press down to flatten them slightly.  (I placed the dough on the first batch too closely together and got a lovely cookie mass.  These were quickly designated the Husband's cookies.  He was happy to help.)  

 

Place the pan in the center of a 350 degree oven and bake until they are golden in the center and brown around the edges - about 11-12 minutes.  (GFG's recipe called for 21-22 minutes, but my cookies were ready much earlier.)  Allow the cookies to sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before placing them on a wire rack to cool completely.

Don't they look amazing?

They taste even better.  If you happen to have any left after 24 hours, I recommend freezing them.

Whether you like the dough or the cookies better, this recipe is a keeper.  Enjoy!