Looking for some easy recipes..

Quinoa Peanut Butter Cookies Sift together: 1 ¼ cup quinoa flour ½ teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon salt Cream Together: 1 cup peanut butter ½ cup shortening 1 cup sugar sub (I use maltitol or splenda) 1 Tablespoon molasses 2 Tablespoons toasted quinoa ½ cup chopped peanuts Blend In: 1 egg Stir in dry ingredients. Shape into small balls and place on a greased baking sheet about 3 inches apart. Press ½ inch thick with floured fork. Bake in preheated 350 oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until nicely browned. Makes 3-4 dozen cookies.

Thanks Liz! Where do I get molasses and is it cream cheese or just cream that I am using? Sorry I am bombarding you were these questions.

Shilpa,

you can get molasses at the grocery store.  I didn't have any so I just used my maltitol syrup (the honey flavored one) and they came out great anyway.

You're not using either cream cheese OR cream... the instructions are to "cream together" which is just another way of saying mush all the buttery-consistency stuff together really well until it's well blended.  I just use my hands, or you can use a mixer on a med-low speed. 

The recipes for the SF granola bars are:
The basic recipe:  recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp
The chocolate sesame variation:  recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp

They're very easy and adaptable to pretty much any collection of nuts, seeds, and dried fruit that you like.  Vary the "butters" as you like, too - i usually use about half and half of cashew butter and peanut butter, but sometimes i use all PB, and other times I use 2/3 tahini and 1/3 cashew butter... pretty much any taste you like.

Enjoy!

karen

so I made the granola bars yesterday.  Since I don't have PB in the house, I doubled the cashew butter.  They taste yummy, but are still a bit crumbly... thoughts on that?

I used the basic recipe and added the cocoa powder

Probably not quite enough oil... the cocoa powder seems to dry them out a bit, and cashew butter isn't as "oily" as PB.  I end up adjusting by texture as I'm making them because each combo of seeds/nuts is a little different - they should be pretty moist as you're mixing them (think meatloaf) or they will be crumblier.  I occasionally add a little more tahini or cashew butter or another tablespoon of oil to adjust the moisture.

BUT... the crumblier batches are awesome stirred into yogurt or a protein shake and as a topping for fruit or SF ice cream or pudding. 

K.

I figured I needed something else WET, but wasn't sure what.  I was thinking about adding to yogurt.  It definitely still tastes yummy.  I guess as I experiment, I'll find the right mix.  I'm just happy I didn't go running out for PB just because the recipe called for it.  I know I'm safe with the cashew butter.

Good for you, girl!  And tahini, almond butter, pretty much any of the nut butters are great....

My next batch, I'm using almond butter and chopped apricots ;-)

k.

You can just leave the molasses out too, it won't affect anything. You get in the in the grocery store in the baking aisle though.