Beets in a different way—what’s not to beat?

by : Sabine Stezenbach

As I child I had unhappy experiences with beets and thus tried to avoid them as an adult. But we all know they are good for you. They are low in calories, yet high in valuable vitamins and minerals. In fact, they contain a bit of almost all the vitamins and minerals that one needs. And as we all know as members of the CSA, they are a frequent part of the winter shares as they have a long shelf life and are ready to be harvested in late summer and fall. On one of my searches for what else I could do with beet root aside from roasting I came across a recipe for “Chocolate Beet Muffins” which since has become one of my favorites. They taste earthy yet chocolately and are easy to take along to a picnic.

Ingredients

 2 medium size beets, raw

 Scant 1 ½ cups of all purpose flour (I use whole wheat flour)

 2 tablespoons cacoa powder

 1 ½ tablespoons of baking powder

 ¼ tablespoon salt

 2 large eggs

 ¼ cup of whole milk

 ¾ cup of brown sugar or equivalent natural sweetener

 ¼ cup of unsalted butter, room temperature

 ¼ cup of sunflower oil

 1 cup of semi- sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

 preheat oven to 355 degree Fahrenheit

 peel the beets if you wish and grate

 in a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt

 in a small bowl, whisk together eggs and milk

 in a large bowl using a hand mixer on medium speed, cream together the sugar, butter and oil. On low

speed, beat in the egg mixture. Slowly fold in the flour mixture.

 Using a spatula, mix in the grated beets and chocolate chips.

 Evenly divide the batter into 12 muffin cases in a greased muffin form. Each case should be a bout ¾ full

 Bake for 20—25 minutes until the muffins are springy to the touch. Remove from oven and allow to cool in

pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling

 Enjoy!

Please follow our Instagram and Facebook page!