Quinoa Cranberry Cookies

These cookies were inspired by a recipe on Amy Greene's blog, Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free this morning, 'Quinoa Raisin Cookies' - I veganized the recipe by removing the egg, the dairy, cut down the sugar, used my own mix of flours, and used walnuts and cranberries in place of the raisins.  They taste so good!  David came home and said, "I don't like cranberries!",  (okay, at my age, its difficult to keep track of everything several people do not like, can't have, are allergic to... I need to start writing this stuff down), but after eating several of these cookies, he proclaimed that they were very good.  Too bad, I was secretly hoping to eat them all myself.

I shared linked this post to Slight Indulgent Tuesdays and at Cybele Pascal's Allergy Friendly Friday.

Flax Meal Slurry:
2 tablespoons golden flax meal
3 tablespoons coconut milk (or other non-dairy milk)

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup earth balance buttery spread (or butter) room temperature
1/2 cup coconut palm sugar * (see note below)
1 - 2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons coconut milk (or water)

Dry Ingredients:
1/3 cup sweet sorghum flour
1/3 cup blanched almond flour
1/3 cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup quinoa flakes
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries (not sugar sweetened)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line 2 sheet trays with parchment paper.

Mix the ingredients for the flax meal slurry in a small bowl and set aside to thicken for a few minutes.

In a large bowl (or bowl of your stand mixer), cream the butter until light, add the coconut palm sugar and mix well.  Add thickened flax meal slurry, vanilla and 2 tablespoons coconut milk.

In a small bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.  Add to the butter mixture and mix until well combined.  Add quinoa flakes, walnuts, and cranberries.

Use a small scoop to drop cookies onto parchment lined sheet tray (the cookies do not need much space between them, they do not spread much).  Bake for 12 - 14 minutes (mine baked for exactly 14 minutes), until the cookies are just beginning to brown around the edges (do not over bake).  Let cookies cool for about 5 minutes, then remove them to a wire rack.

My cookies were about 1 1/2 inches in size when baked and the recipe make 30 cookies.

Options:
- substitute raisins (or any kind of dried fruit) or chocolate chips for the cranberries
- use whatever nuts your like
- substitute gluten-free oatmeal for the quinoa flakes
- substitute 1 egg for the flax meal slurry
- if you do not have the flours I used, try 2/3 cup of any whole grain gluten-free flour (e.g. brown rice, millet, garbanzo bean/fava bean, quinoa, teff etc.), and 1/3 cup of some kind of starch (e.g. arrowroot, cornstarch, potato starch)
- and, if you want to try this with a purchased flour mix (such as Pamela's, or Bob's Red Mill) - I bet it would taste great

*Note: coconut palm sugar (sometimes referred to as palm sugar) is very lightly processed, low glycemic index (35 GI - which is comparable to agave), and high in minerals.  This sugar is traditionally used in south Asian cooking.  It has a wonderful taste, similar to brown sugar.  Its becoming widely available.  (just for reference, the GI for table sugar is 80)