Puffed Quinoa...Huh!

Awhile back I bought a bag of puffed quinoa at the Bulk Barn. I'm not overly familiar with this little grain so didn't really know what I was doing but figured what the heck, I'll figure out something to do with it. It sat in the cupboard for awhile with me occasionally taking a spoonful of peanut butter and dipping it into the bag of puffy goodness for a quick little treat. I love peanut butter. And I seem to like things puffy. Puffed grains, that is.

Well yesterday I decided to get creative. After numerous searches on The Google for puffed quinoa recipes, I settled on what I love best. Peanut butter and chocolate. I did it my own way though. I rarely measure when I cook. I'm more of a wing and hope for the best type of cook. (I've resigned myself to the fact that MasterChef won't be calling me anytime soon. Gordon Ramsey would laugh me into a hole and I couldn't handle that kind of ridicule.)

Anyway, what I came up with actually didn't turn out so bad.

Puffed Quinoa Peanut Butter Balls (makes approx. 30 balls.)

Ingredients

About 4 cups of puffed quinoa
3-ish cups of creamy smooth peanut butter
Maybe 1/2 c of shredded coconut
Melted chocolate (semi-sweet chocolate chips or bakers chocolate)
Some vanilla extract (if you bake much you can guestimate how much is enough)

Seems simple so far, huh?

Instructions

Dump the puffed quinoa into a bowl. In a sauce pan, mix the peanut butter and vanilla extract until even creamier and smoother than you started with. Add the coconut. (Interesting note, the inside of a coconut is referred to as meat. Huh?) Mix. Pour peanut butter mixture into the puffed quinoa and stir well. Put in fridge to cool.

When the mixture has chilled and is kinda firm again, roll into balls on a wax papered cookie sheet. I say "kinda firm" because as you roll into balls it gets warmed up again and is a little difficult to make it stay ballish.

Also recommended to leave the water tap running and have a dry dish towel beside you. This stuff is STICKY! And if you're like me: lick, rinse, dry and repeat.

Once rolled into about 30 balls (maybe more depending on how big you rolled them) put the whole cookie sheet back into the fridge for awhile. Go watch some TV or read a book or write a story. Or think about writing a story. When you've finally gotten that idea for a story slick and ready in your mind, forget about it, the balls should be ready and lord knows peanut butter is far more important that writing. Oh. And chocolate.

Start melting the chocolate in a sauce pan. I wished at this point I had a double boiler. (Do they even still make those.) As the chocolate becomes liquidy, start dipping your balls. Careful, cause melting chocolate is fricking hot. Dip, put back on cookie sheet, and repeat. Put back in fridge to cool.

And there you have it. A gluten free, high peanut butter and chocolate dessert.

Now you can write your story.

If you can keep your fingers out of the fridge.