Ingredients

100 g quinoa flour
200 g semi-whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
a pinch of whole sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
half a teaspoon cardamom powder
200 ml plain (unflavoured) and unsweetened rice milk
70 ml extra virgin olive oil
80 g rice malt syrup
20 ml maple syrup (grade C)
100 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa), broken into pieces
3 handfuls of dried sour cherries

Makes 10-12 muffins.

Directions

Preheat oven to 180° C. In a large bowl,  combine the quinoa flour, wheat flour, cornstarch, cream of tartar, salt, baking soda, cardamom powder and stir to blend well. In another bowl combine the milk, olive oil, rice malt syrup, maple syrup and whisk well. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir gently until the ingredients are combined but make sure you don’t over mix the batter. Add the chocolate and cherries and give another stir just to make sure they’re evenly incorporated into the batter. Fill the muffin cups or muffin tray with the batter, using a spoon. Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is lightly browned and a toothpick or knife inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from the oven, let cool for a couple of minutes, unmold the muffins and place them on a wire rack to let cool.

Thoughts, tips, ideas

If you want to enjoy the bits of melted chocolate, eat the muffins while they’re still warm. Or whenever you fancy one, you can always warm it up. Anyways, they’re equally good cold. 

Ingredients

100 g dark chocolate, fair trade
65 g whole puffed rice
3 tablespoons rice malt syrup
2 tablespoons plain rice milk
1 pinch whole sea salt

Makes 8 bars, 4×4 cm each. 

Directions

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the chocolate with the milk and salt, stirring constantly. As soon as it’s melted, remove the chocolate from the fire and add the rice malt syrup. Mix well and stir in the puffed rice. When everything is well incorporated press the mixture evenly into a low, baking tray (mine was 16×8x3 cm), trying to be very quick as the rice is sticky and hardens very quickly as it cools, taking up pretty much any shape. Set aside and cut it into squares before it’s completely cool. When firm, serve at room temperature (they keep in the fridge for up to 3-4 days).

Thoughts, tips, ideas

These bars are simple and delicious, plus, you can make them in a flash and the final result is almost always appreciated. Kids don’t usually go for dark chocolate but if you use more malt syrup (5 tablespoons instead of 3), this turns out to be a great recipe to make for parties where you know you have to please a very young crowd (avoiding the refined sugars and extra fats of milk chocolate).