Line a cupcake tin with paper liners - I used a 6-cup pan.
Rinse quinoa using a strainer, and set aside to drain. You are rinsing the quinoa to remove the saponins, a naturally occurring phytochemical that is there to protect quinoa seeds in the wild but which can make it taste bitter.
Make Quinoa Base
Pour your rinsed and drained quinoa into a dry skillet set to medium high. As the pan heats, use a wisk to keep stirring the quinoa to dry and toast it. Never leave it or it might burn.You know it is toasted - probably after about 3-5 minutes - when popping noises slow down, and the color turns brown, and you smell a nutty scent.
Pour the hot toasted quinoa into a bowl, and stir in the maple syrup until you have a sticky clingy texture. Using your fingers, press this mixture thinly and evenly into the base of the six paper cupcake liners, and set aside.
Make Purple Sweet Potato Filling
Boil purple sweet potatoes about 20 minutes, let them cool, then peel off skin and mash them up in a bowl with a fork.
Melt your coconut butter - I set it in a bowl over boiling water and stirred continuously. Don't microwave coconut butter to melt it, it will burn quickly.
One day I'm hoping to find a brand that is already melted. This task is the hardest part of the recipe.
Combine the mashed purple potatoes and melted coconut butter - I mixed it with a spoon but a hand-mixer would also make the task easier. Taste-test right now - if your mixture needs sweetening, add in a teaspoon at a time of maple syrup until you are happy with the taste and texture. The sweetness will vary depending on the sweetness of the purple sweet potatoes you used. Once all the potato chunks are gone and you have a smoothie purple dough, press into the cupcake cups, on top of the quinoa layer, and even out the top with the back of a spoon.
Refrigerate the pan for an hour or so or until you feel it is set enough to eat. If you want to be able to peel off the paper, you might have to freeze and thaw. It depends on the moisture variation in your potatoes and quinoa.Either way, when you are ready to eat, top with a swirl of coconut cream and flowers. Very delicious.
How to Make Homemade Coconut Butter
Want to make it yourself? Buy unsweetened shredded coconut (must be fresh, must be only coconut), and blend or process for 7-8 minutes. If the brand is clean enough, and if the coconut is fresh enough, you will have a silky smooth coconut butter. It will harden of course, but keep refrigerated and melt on stove when you want to use it.