The “super grain” quinoa has the potential to make a super cookie, according to research by Washington State University

Scientists use quinoa to make better cookie – Food Industry News

In a study published in the Journal of Food Science, US-based Washington State University (WSU) researchers show that two types of quinoa, bred specifically to grow in Washington state, had great functionality as a potential high-fibre, high-protein additive flour for commercial cookies. This means when baked, the cookies had good “spreadability” and texture.

Taste tests are still underway, but preliminary results show that people preferred sugar cookies with 10% of the quinoa flour over a traditional all-wheat flour cookie.

“It’s the Holy Grail for food scientists: we want to develop something that people love to eat and want to go buy and buy again, and now we’re adding some fibre in without them even knowing it,” said Girish Ganjyal, a WSU food scientist and the study’s corresponding author.

Originating in South America, quinoa has a host of nutritional benefits: it is high in fibre, protein, vitamins and minerals. It is also gluten-free. While the grain is popular with health enthusiasts, it has yet to take off with many mainstream consumers.

The preliminary results from the taste tests also show that using up to 25% quinoa flour tended to have better results. The researchers purposely chose sugar cookies for the taste test because they are plain as opposed to chocolate chip cookies which might mask any flavour from the quinoa.