A light chocolate bar with puffed quinoa, for a healthier treat, and a splash of Amaretto.
Hola!
Today I bring you a classic Christmas Spanish treat, but with a healthy twist: puffed quinoa rocky road. Last year I made it closer to the original crunchy texture with puffed rice (Coco pops), but this year I wanted to try something different, and lighter. The quinoa pops make it airy and not so overly sweet, but it doesn’t have the crunch like the one with Choco pops. It’s up to you which one to choose. Oh, and I added Amaretto instead of rum, because I just can’t get enough. I wanted to add glacé cherries that I had left from my Vegan Belgian buns, but I had issues with the chocolate and I forgot (facepalm). You can add any other inclusions or flavourings if you wish. You can also skip the booze.
Watch out! When melting the chocolate, I cannot recommend enough to use the Bain Marie method. Yes, we know it’s a faff, but melting chocolate in the microwave makes a thick chocolate, difficult to work with, and very easy to burn (even when doing the 30 seconds bursts). When using the Bain Marie method, boil water in a saucepan and put a glass bowl that sits on the edges of the saucepan. This is so that you lock the steam in, and it will make it easier to melt the chocolate, and safer so that water doesn’t get in the chocolate and makes it seize. Now, did I do any of this? No, I used the microwave, and hence the mess. Listen to my advice and use the Bain Marie!
You might have heard of a Spanish Christmas sweet called turrón. There are different kinds, but the original one was made with roasted almonds, and cooked with honey and egg whites. There is a soft one and a hard one. There is another one made with egg yolk. However, the most popular amongst children, and the not so young, has always been the chocolate one. There is a very famous brand that makes the crunchy chocolate with puffed rice, and that one was the classic one. Other versions are made of just chocolate and nuts, but for as much as I love these, they are nothing but chocolate with nuts. At least the puffed quinoa/rice one feels more Christmassy.
PUFFED QUINOA ROCKY ROAD
Prep: 15 minutes
Chill: overnight
INGREDIENTS
250g dark cooking chocolate
2 tbsp. Amaretto
1 tsp. coconut oil
1 cup puffed quinoa
INSTRUCTIONS
- Line a rectangular glass or heat-resistant container (size of a chocolate bar) with baking paper.
- Add the chocolate, Amaretto and coconut oil to a glass bowl and melt in a Bain Marie. Stir until completely runny. Remove the bowl from the heat.
- Mix in the puffed quinoa, fill the mould and press down with a spatula to remove air bubbles.
- Let it cool down completely at ambient before putting it in the fridge overnight.
You can keep it in the fridge for up to 7 days, but it will not last that long!
Bon profit!