Sour Cream Fudge Quinoa (Keen-Wah) Cupcakes

Recipe from Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods
Husband-Tested in Alice’s Kitchen
Makes one dozen cupcakes

As I was preparing for the quinoa cooking demonstration at Lost River Market & Deli, I noticed that the store had quinoa flour in the baking aisle. I bought some and tested this cupcake recipe that was on the package. These cupcakes are gluten free for those who are sensitive to gluten. For those of you who are new to quinoa flour (like me) you may be a bit surprised at the aroma of the batter. It smells a bit different from typical chocolate batter. Whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks and folding them in to the batter helps the cupcakes rise. I wasn’t sure what my hubby would think of cupcakes made with quinoa flour, but he really liked them! We both thought the cupcakes were quite tender. I didn’t ice these, but you certainly could. I think giving them a little dusting of powdered sugar would be nice, but they were puffy and pretty without any sugary embellishment.

• 1/4 cup Unsalted Butter
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1/4 cup Cocoa Powder
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 1/4 cups Organic Quinoa Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 2 Large Eggs, separated
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/4 cup Sour Cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place the butter and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder. Sift together the sugar, quinoa flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the cooled cocoa mixture, egg yolks, vanilla and sour cream and blend well. Beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold into batter.

Spoon into a muffin tin lined with paper cupcake liners. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
Each cupcake contains Calories 160, Calories from Fat 45, Total Fat 5g, Saturated Fat 3g, Cholesterol 10mg, Sodium 180mg, Total Carbohydrates 27g, Dietary Fiber 2g, Sugars 17g, Protein 3g.