How To Use Almond Flour and Quinoa Flour

What Flours are Grain Free

Almonds are a nut and quinoa is a seed so both almond flour and quinoa flour are grain-free flours.

You don't need to limit your gluten free diet to grain free flours. Not What you might want to know is that some people can't tolerate specific grains or even all grains. If you're not symptom free it's your job to pay attention to what's in everything you eat. That's the only way to learn if some ingredients don't agree with you.

Flour can be made from grains, seeds and nuts (and apparently coffee, green bananas and more). Here's a short list of some flours gluten free cooks can use and a way they can be categorized.

The Paleo diet is dairy free and grain free. That means you could include paleo recipes and paleo blogs when searching for new recipes.

Now, let's get back to these two grain-free flours, almond flour and quinoa flour.

Baking with Almond Flour

Almond flour is made from blanched almonds that have been finely ground. It's the same as the ground almonds you buy in the baking aisle at the grocery store. Almond flour and ground almonds can be used interchangeably in recipes although the grind may vary among brands.

Properties

• Contains 21% protein
• High in fibre and fat
• Mild sweet flavour
• Adds richness to baked goods
• Easy to find since ground almonds in the baking aisle are the same as almond flour

Best Uses for Almond Flour

• Cakes, muffins, pancakes, quick breads and cookies.

Cons

• Expensive compared to other gluten free flours.
• Ideally stored in the fridge or freezer for maximum freshness.
• Baked goods with almond flour cannot be sent to schools or workplaces with a nut-free policy.

Recipes Using Almond Flour

I ignored almond flour for years since my sons’ school was nut-free. Eventually I was determined to improve my gluten free cookies so I leaned into almond flour and found success.

• I added almond flour to make these Blueberry Granola Muffins for flavour and protein.
• I ended up with a new flour blend that I had to name for my readers so it's my Gluten Free Cookie Flour Blend. As well as almond flour it includes brown rice flour (also great for cookies), potato starch and tapioca starch (because using 2 starches always gives better results with gluten free baking).
• This flour blend enabled me to recreate gluten free versions of these favourites: Jam Thumbprints, Cinnamon Snickerdoodles, Cappuccino Diamonds (adult chocolate chip cookies), my favourite Gingerbread recipe (for cookies, houses and more), plus these Iced Pumpkin Spice Cookies.
• I'm always experi-baking so I have used this flour blend in my Banana Muffin recipe and my original chocolate chip cookie recipe.
• For experi-baking where I use a single flour, I'd put almond flour in my granola bars.
• One of my readers told me she uses almond flour to thicken beef stew!

Baking with Quinoa Flour

Here we're talking about the flour, not the seeds. Yet much like quinoa seeds are considered a super food, quinoa flour can be considered a healthier choice when compared to wheat flour or rice flour.

Properties

• Nice nutty flavour.
• High in fibre and protein.
• Works well in combination with potato flour, rice flour or tapioca starch for a lighter result.
• Some brands have a coarse texture. A fine grind is always preferred for baking but the grind of flour is most often determined by trial and error.

Best Uses for Quinoa Flour

• I like this flour in cookies and brownies.
• Can be used in combination with other flours to make muffins, rustic cakes, flatbreads and pizza dough.

Cons

• Has a bitter taste that mostly disappears when baked. The super tasters might disagree.
• Not everyone can tolerate quinoa.
• More costly than other gluten free flours.
• Not recommended, in large amounts, for yeast breads.
• Should be stored in the fridge or freezer for maximum freshness.

Recipes Using Quinoa Flour

This was one of the first flours I tried as a single flour. It is perfect for those special friends who are dying to make you something you can eat. Teach them what cross contact means in a kitchen, and they can bake cookies and brownies tomorrow with just quinoa flour. (Pizza is another story.)

• Used as a single flour I make Peanut Butter Cookies and chocolate chip cookies (this recipe is made into a pizza but you can make it as regular sized cookies).
• I had a long brownie making spree and these are the results using quinoa flour: Chocolate cheesecake brownies, Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake brownies, Mochaccino Cheesecake Brownies and Chocolate truffle brownies.
• Make this perfect summer dessert with the quinoa flour brownie base, Raspberry brownie ice cream cake.
• Quinoa is one of a few flours in my recipe for a New York Style pizza dough.

Quinoa Flour FAQs