Chocolatey Quinoa Cupcakes

Food-wise?  It has been some week.

It was my anniversary this week, five years!  I guess that is our wooden anniversary?  We are supposed to buy each other wooden things, like clocks?

Thanks Victorians!

Well, we didn't get each other any clocks.  Instead we focused on what we both love.  And that is food.

Oh, and each other.  But mostly WONDERFUL FOOD.

There was pizza and cake one day.

And a fancy dinner the next.  It was really yummy.  There were like, pickled fiddleheads and pork belly and boar's neck.

You heard me.  Boar's neck.

Anyway.  It's been a rich week.

You know what's a good antidote to a rich week?

Quinoa in your cupcakes!

You were thinking, not cupcakes, right?

Well you were wrong.  The answer is something to make your cupcakes ever so slightly healthier.

Everybody is lining up to buy my diet books, right?

Anyways, so fine, these aren't like, a paragon of acai-powered spinach superfood.  But they are GF.  And they do have quinoa for protein and a soft gorgeous texture.  And they do taste like little melty pots of chocolate that dissolve on your tongue into a lingering, slightly bitter richness.

Sound good?

Me too.

Next week:  kale or something (maybe I can figure out how to put it in cupcakes!).

Chocolatey Quinoa Cupcakes (recipe from my good friend at Cake on the Brain, where she cooks up delicious GF delicacies every week)

Chocolatey Quinoa Cupcakes

2 cups cooked quinoa, cold (see note below for instructions to cook quinoa)
1/3 cup milk
4 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cups butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups organic cane sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line the muffin tin with the 12 large-sized cupcake liners. 

In a Vitamix, Blender of Food Processor, combine:  milk, eggs, vanilla.  Blend until combined.  Add 2 cups of cold cooked quinoa and the melted butter and continue to blend until smooth.

Dump in the sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the blender.  Blend well to combine. 

Pour from the blender directly into the cupcake liners, evenly distributing the cupcake batter between the 12 liners.  Gently tap the tin on the counter to ensure there are no air bubbles.  Smooth the tops with a small spatula

Bake in the centre of the oven for approximately 30 minutes.

Test the cupcakes for doneness with a toothpick or cake tester.

These cakes can be frosted, and she does at Cake on the Brain.  It looks delicious.  However I found the chocolate flavor so rich and the texture so sweet and soft the icing didn't seem quite necessary to me.  Or maybe it was just a lazy day.  At any rate, re: frosting, follow your heart!

Note:  to cook quinoa, bring 2/3 cup raw, rinsed white or golden quinoa to boil in a heavy saucepan with 1 1/3 cups water.  Cover, reduce to simmer and cook for 10 minutes.  Turn off heat and leave covered saucepan on burner for another 10 minutes.  Fluff with fork and allow the Quinoa to cool.