How to Make Quinoa Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I will try these with coconut oil rather than butter, and banana instead of the egg, reducing the sugar as well because the bananas are naturally sweet. Gluten free! Looking forward to giving these a try.

Louise ,

Unless you cannot eat butter, or eggs, then you can try Egg replacer. They sell it at most markets in the health food section.

That said you would want to eat Eggs from chickens that only eat Organic, and make pastured eggs. These are not commercial eggs that you find in the store, that say, Range free. That is BS.

Mother Earth News collected samples from 14 pastured flocks/Chickens across the country and had them tested at an accredited laboratory. The results were compared to official US Department of Agriculture data for commercial eggs. Results showed the pastured eggs contained an amazing:

• 1/3 less cholesterol than commercial eggs
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 7 times more beta carotene
The yokes are Orange no Yellow.

That said, you also would want to eat/buy only organic Pastured Butter.
Cows that are outside / Pastured.Eating the grass, and bugs also.
That butter has K2 Mk4 in it, which takes calcium to our bones and not our arteries.
Once you eat Pastured butter, you will taste and smell the differents, besides it being healthier for you..Yummy.
Pastured, does not mean "Pasturized", which you do not want to eat.

Since I am vegan, I can sympathize with your wish for substitutes. In these cookies, however, I doubt they could be used without detriment to the cookie - maybe switching to oil, but not the eggs. I just want to mention that most people don't seem to realize how bad for you oils are (almost all, except possibly coconut) - yes, even olive, imo. Advertisers have done a stupendous job duping people into believing vegetable oils are better for you than "saturated fats". Do you know how most oils are extracted (chemicals?) They just aren't "natural" and I am convinced are a root cause of much of the disease we face today. I would choose organic or even conventional butter over oil any day of the week. Tearing apart whole, natural foods to make them "healthier", again, not my cup of tea. I believe in Mother Nature. In other words, leave the fat in the milk, don't smash the butter fat into unnaturally small molecules (homogenize)and think man has improved on nature. Studies have found that there are substances in the egg white that make the yolk healthy and vice versa - again, leave it like it was made. Maybe Dr. Kim would like to do an article on his take on this.

You can also sub flax seed for eggs- 1 T flax meal + 3 T water= 1 egg. Worked just fine with my cookies :)

Yes, I agree with the commenter. You can find organic cornstarch at most supermarkets and the price is pretty good. In addition Redpath sugar is all made from 100% sugar cane, no sugar beets, no it is non-GMO. If you want to avoid any synthetic pesticides then buy organic sugar, but the Redpath for icing, brown, etc., does me good.

These cookies sound delicious, I look forward to trying this healthier snack.

Ok, food police! I was also surprised by the list of sweetners but glad that Dr. Kim pointed out that other sweetners could be subbed. Love this recipe, perfect for my leftover quinoa!

Thanks so much for posting those substitutions for the sugars and cornstarch. As a health coach, getting people to at least try other foods like quinoa can be a challenge. I don't like to give recipes that contain sugar, but sometimes look at it as a small(?) tradeoff. It's not easy trying to tell clients to try eating one thing and they wonder why I would recommend a recipe with questionable ingredients. I will experiment with this recipe with your suggestions. I use coconut sugar as a sweetener and love it. By the way, I don't know what the purpose of the cornstarch is.