This sweet snack combines sweet potato, quinoa and cinnamon. It’s not quite cake and a bit too squishy to call bread but if you like cinnamon and sweet potato and fancy something snacky that’s full of protein and carbohydrates then try this.

Suitable for vegan, coeliac, dairy-free, gluten-free, wheat-free, nut-free, grain-free and egg-free diets. With added turmeric, cayenne pepper and black pepper for nutrition and taste. Perfect on its own or topped with a healthy sweet or savoury spread.

In an ideal situation you would soak the quinoa overnight but often I only have time for 15-20 mins. A short soak is still enough to make this quinoa bread recipe and I recommend using warm water.

Most quinoa that is sold in the UK and US is pre-washed so doesn’t have a bitter taste. If yours isn’t pre-washed then do rinse thoroughly after soaking to remove the bitterness.

Sweet Potato Quinoa Cinnamon Bites Video

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The squares are quite soft so do cut into small pieces so they stay together when eating. If you want them firmer and crispier then put back in the oven once they have been taken out of the pan and off the paper.

Next time I make these I will probably add some ground chia seeds and ground oats to make it firmer.

If you are a keen gardener you can try using the soaking water from the quinoa to fertilise plants.  Several people always post on my recipes (like seed milk) on Facebook to not throw away the soaking water as plants love it.

You definitely don’t want to drink the water yourself as they are soaked to remove the phytic acid enzymes inhibitors to make the nutrients easier to digest.

The quinoa here is cooked when it’s baked in the oven so no need to do any boiling. One person had a mishap with my chocolate quinoa avocado fudge cake as they boiled the quinoa as per the packet then used in the recipe. The resulting cake did not set and had no chance of slicing, but was probably a yummy pudding!

Quinoa is actually a seed so this is suitable for grain-free diets. It’s often referred to as grain as it’s used like a grain despite being a seed.

I did top these with avocado, however that wasn’t the best match with cinnamon. What would be better is chocolate avocado frosting, but they are great eaten just on their own.

I made these with a tablespoon of cinnamon the first time and this was way too much even though I love cinnamon. If you want a sweeter dessert bite then add a handful of dates. For savoury leave out the cinnamon and top with something like avocado mashed with apple cider vinegar.

Did you know cinnamon is the second most popular spice in the US and China. The spice we use is the inner bark of a tree and can either be ground or used as sticks.

Cinnamon originates from Sri Lanka and was the source of conflicts as in the past it was grown in just one region. Now its grown all across the world in tropical climates.