This Alegría recipe was shared with us by Bob’s Red Mill for their Grains of Discovery Event. This is an interesting recipe because it has such a high mineral content for a sugary treat. The amaranth, pumpkin seeds, and blackstrap molasses offer noteworthy amounts of natural calcium, magnesium, vitamin B6 (riboflavin), and even iron. If cut into 9 squares, each Alegría treat offers approximately 25mg of non-dairy calcium. This may not seem like much, but considering the nutritious package, it definitely counts!
Special Diet Notes: Alegría – Amaranth Candy
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, vegan, plant-based, vegetarian, and generally top food allergy friendly. To note, amaranth is a gluten-free pseudo-grain that is more akin to Swiss chard than wheat.
- ½ cup amaranth
- ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
- Heat a wide-bottomed pan with a lid over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the amaranth to the pan, cover and cook over medium-high heat until most of the grains have popped, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a bowl. Repeat with remaining amaranth, 1 tablespoon at a time. Add pumpkin seeds to popped amaranth.
- Heat sugar in a deep pot over medium heat. The granules will slowly begin to melt. Add molasses. When molasses begins to boil steadily, stir to incorporate the sugar. Remove from heat and immediately add popped amaranth and pumpkin seeds. Stir well to coat.
- Quickly transfer to a parchment lined 9 x 9-inch pan and spread evenly with a spatula. Immediately cut to desired size. Let cool before serving.
18 Comments
Thanks for the idea. tried the recipe. The popping was very fun. I seems I had trouble with melting the sugar and had some clumps. It was tasty, but did not work into bars. Seemed like there was not enough sugar. Should I try more sugar or is it just a problem of the melting?
Joel, they have a great tutorial with pictures here -> http://www.wikihow.com/Caramelize-Sugar – #2 the Dry method would be the one here, but your melting, not going all the way to caramelizing. As you can see, it looks like sugar clumps are normal with dry sugar melting. Hopefully that tutorial helps as I’m not an expert candy maker either! 🙂
IS there a replacement for the molasses?
You can use another liquid sweetener, if preferred.
Hi Alisa, alegrias are delicious, we are a new company bringing amaranth products and the healthy version of the alegria to the US market, I would love to send you some samples so you can share the goodness of amaranth with your readers. http://www.kualifoods.com
Please feel free to email us directly.
Great recipe! Really nice and toddler loves them. Going to try honey instead of sugar next time
Great – I bet honey would work well!
Can i use honey or maple syrup instead of sugar?? Love this candy… It reminds my country Dominican Republic!!! We use sesame seeds instead of amaranth, but seems to be as good as original!!
I’m not positive, but I believe it would work with honey or maple Josefina.
I liked this recipe, but my kids were turned off by the molasses. ( I know right?!) I will try it with honey or pure maple syrup next time for them. But, until then..more for me 🙂
I guess it’s too strong for young taste buds! Glad you enjoyed Hanna and I bet it would be amazing with honey or maple!
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Thanks for the link, Alisa! I will definitely have to put my popped amaranth to the test with this sweet treat!
Yum! These sound so cool – kind of like those sesame seed bars I used to get as a kid!
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I love this idea, but we burned our amaranth the last time we tried to pop it. Do you have any tips beyond what’s in the recipe directions?
Molly, my friend Kim has a great process for avoiding burned popped amaranth:
http://www.welcomingkitchen.com/2013/08/popped-amaranth-my-adventrues-in.html