Blueberry Banana Quinoa Coconut Flour (Gluten Free) Muffins!

My friends and family know that, as a pastry chef, I love to bake and try new recipes. Recently I acquired a peaked interest in Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) and have been waiting for the perfect way to try Quinoa for the first time! I thought about using it as a rice substitute for dinner, or as an “oatmeal” with blueberries but I was still skeptical. The idea of making a muffin crossed my mind and I knew if I was going to try it that I had to find a really awesome recipe. I thought about whipping up something on my own, but being unfamiliar with Quinoa I decided not to risk it, so instead I set out in search on the inter-webular to find a good recipe. I found a lot of recipes that sounded ok, but a lot of the pictures that came along with them didn’t look particularly appetizing and the ingredients were not the makings of a special or moist muffin. I finally came across this recipe on PureFreshDaily.com and I could tell by the list of ingredients and the picture that these were bound to be moist AND yummy! If any Quinoa muffin was going to taste good, then this would be the one.

I had seen so many recipes that called for cooked quinoa – you make it basically the same way you make rice on the stove with a 2:1 ratio of water and Quinoa – so I guess the need for cooked Quinoa was stuck in my head that I overlooked the fact that this particular recipe actually calls for Quinoa flour! Oh man, I was pretty disappointed when I realized this since, by that time, I had already pulled all the ingredients out of my pantry and refrigerator to begin preparing my mis-en-place. I decided to take a risk and use the cooked version instead of the flour, and just hope that they turn out. If not, then this would be a pretty expensive mistake because some of the ingredients are a little more spendy than the average muffin ingredients. (Instead of butter I opted to use Coconut Oil.) To my surprise and good luck, the muffins ended up turning out great and I like how the cooked Quinoa added a nice element of texture to the muffins – so I might just do it this way on purpose next time I make them!

Here area few things I learned while making these muffins:

• When you scoop them into the muffin cups, they keep their shape during baking. They do not melt down and fluff up like most muffins do.
• Turns out it’s OK to use cooked Quinoa instead of Quinoa flour! *phew*
• You can use Coconut Oil instead of butter – much healthier and the coconut adds great flavor.
• Fresh blueberries worked out great! You can use frozen blueberries, but as they thaw out they bleed their color a lot and tend to end up “mushy”.  Using the fresh blueberries (small size) didn’t do that.
• They’re healthy!

Quinoa, as it turns out, has a long list of health benefits. Although it is used a lot of times in place of pasta and rice, it’s actually considered to be a protein (rather than a grain) because of its high protein content. It’s rich in antioxidants, magnesium and fiber. (Click here to read more about Quino) Also, by choosing the Coconut Oil over the butter, I was able to cut out the processed fats and use a more pure form of fats. Coconut oil is also very diverse and the unprocessed & unrefined coconut oil also has plenty of its own healthy benefits, such as increased immunity, maintaining cholesterol and metabolism, etc etc. The list goes on! Here’s some more information on Coconut Oil. Also, not only is this my first time trying Quinoa, it’s also my first time eating and making a gluten free snack! Gluten-free options are becoming increasingly popular, so I’m glad to be able to add this to my arsenal.

Hope you guys will try these and love them as much as I do!