Beetroot Brownie

You’re reading that right – beetroot brownie. Now, you may wonder why in hell would I ruin the most loved chocolate comfort food in the world by adding beetroots to it.

First of all, we got 3 beetroots with our Oddbox (and the usual cheeky £5 off if you want one here*) and we had to get creative on how to use them, especially since I never had beets before.

Second, for as much as a brownie can be healthy, this is kind of healthy. Or at least this is what I kept telling myself while I was eating piece after piece. It’s also great if you have kids and you’re trying to trick them into eating more veggies. Or if you’re like me, trick yourself into eating more veggies even if you’re over 25.

At the cost of sounding like your mom when she was trying to force you to eat your veggies when you were 7, you really can’t taste the beets that much. They do give a subtle flavour, but it’s definitely not predominant. What they do do though is giving an amazing moist to the brownie, which I’m all about.

Beetroot Brownie

A healthy-ish take on the classic brownie, the beetroot gives it a subtle hearty flavour and a lovely moisture

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 8 portions

Equipment

• Peeler
• Microwave
• Kitchen Robot (optional)
• Stand Mixer (optional)

Ingredients

  

• 3 medium beetroots (uncooked)
• 100 gr butter (room temperature) / alternatively, 80g of vegetable oil
• 200 gr 70% dark chocolate
• 180 gr brown sugar
• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 100 gr flour
• 25 gr cocoa powder

Instructions

 

• Let's start with the beetroots: get some nice gloves, cover everything you love, wear your worst clothes, and start peeling them. I covered my cutting board with some cling film just to make sure – if it stains, it's gonna come off from most surfaces I guess, but I'm not making any promises.

  Once your beetroots are nice and peeled and dripping red/purple everywhere, diced them and put them in a bowl. Cover them with cling film and cook in the microwave on High for 10 to 12 minutes (they should be soft but not mushy)
• While the beetroots cook, heat up the oven at 180ºC/355ºF fan and prepare your tray by lining up with butter and flour or just butter and baking paper.

  Proceed to roughly chop the chocolate and the butter. Once the beetroots are done, take them out (it's gonna be hot so be careful). Now depending on what you have in the kitchen, you have two options:

  Option 1) Use a kitchen robot, add beetroots, chocolate and butter together and mix it up until it's nice and smooth. Chocolate and butter will heat up and melt thanks to the hot beetroots.

  Option 2) If you don't have a kitchen robot, melt the chocolate and butter in a bain-marie (basically take a pot, fill that with water, and put another pot OR a bowl on top so it floats and turn the hob on). This helps melting butter and chocolate without the risk of burning it. While butter and chocolate melt, mash the beetroots as much as you can. Add the melted chocolate and butter, mix it until smooth.
• Now, if you have a stand mixer, go ahead and add the eggs and sugar and mix it together for a couple of minutes. If you don't have one, just use an electric whisk or your strong arms. Once it's nice and foamy, add the beet/chocolate mix you prepared and fold it with the eggs, trying to be as delicate as possible if you're not using a stand mixer. This will help trap the air in.
• Time to add flour and cocoa – just sift them in and fold everything together. Again, sifting helps with keeping the air trapped in, which is how you get a nice, moist and soft cake.
• Pour into the tray you prepared earlier and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Let it cool completely before cutting into squares. Or triangles. That's not gonna make a difference.

Keyword Beetroot Brownie, Brownie

While the beetroot brownie is in the oven…

I’m not gonna start an ode to brownies, because that would never end. However, I will say that brownies are among the most versatile cakes around. Want to add beets? Sure. Why not try peanut butter? Yeah it goes well with it! And rhum? I mean, chocolate and rum, what’s better than that?

They’re easy to make, last up to 5 days (easily 7 if you substitute vegetable oil to butter, just saying), easy to carry around to parties, can be thrown in the freezer… What’s not to love about brownies?

Can a cake be healthy?

If you ask me, yes. I do understand that flour is a processed carb and sugar is always there so it’s never gonna be very healthy food. At the same time, I don’t like to deprive myself of a sweet treat, and I believe that if I can choose between a homemade sweet treat and a processed-industry-made one, the former it’s the best of two “evils” (how can a chocolate cake ever be defined as evil is beyond me).

Anyway, if you’re like me and you’re not gonna give up on a slice of cake for the sake of self-imposed diets, we also have an excellent apple cake ready for you to try: it’s dairy-free and full of apples so again, as healthy as a cake can be!