Beetroot brownies. It sounds like an oxymoron.
Honestly, I was in my late thirties before I ate beets. One fateful night, my chef friend David Keener came to dinner and prepared “beets three ways” to get me to love beets and he won!
As a child, I specifically recall falling asleep at the dinner table over beet soup (borscht). Yuck. I always thought that they tasted like dirt. I was right! However, as tastes become more sophisticated, beets really bring depth to any meal, but dessert? Who would have thought? Seeing is believing and they are surprisingly delicious.
The concept of Beetroot Brownies escaped me, at first.
We are all creatives. We are always trying to find ways to get more veggies and nutrition into our diets and the diets of our families. I remember in my youth the “drink your milk” daily nag. Funny how times have changed– along with perspectives on health and nutrition. You will never know that beets are in these brownies.
How to make Beetroot Brownies
- Preheat convection oven to 325 degrees and prep a 9-inch square pan generously with butter (or coconut oil).
- Add the first eight ingredients and blend until the beets and cashews are well chopped. Scrape down the sides of the blender as necessary.
- Add eggs and cocoa and pulse a few more times.
- Add oat flour, baking soda, arrowroot, and chocolate chips. Blend on medium until well blended.
- Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
The most rewarding thing about making your food at home is you get to adapt it to your own tastes. If you need some inspiration to get started, here are some ideas to make this beetroot brownie recipe your own:
- You can substitute 1/2 cup of almond butter or cashew butter for the raw cashews.
- You can make your own oat flour by placing oats in a blender on high until they are the consistency of flour.
- You can make this recipe in a blender.
- You can make this recipe in a muffin tin to serve small beetroot muffins for breakfast!
Beetroot Brownies
Ingredients
- 1/2 c raw cashews Soak for 4 hours in water. Drain. Pulse in food processor until chopped.
- 1/2 c Eastern Shore Honey
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/3 c organic butter or coconut oil, softened
- 1/2 c Banana ripe and mashed
- 1 c raw beets peel and cut into cubes
- 1/4 c filtered water
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 c cocoa
- 1 c Oat Flour Gluten Free
- 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
- 1 tbsp. Arrowroot
- 1/3 c Chocolate Chips Gluten Free
Instructions
- Preheat convection oven to 325 degrees and prep a 9 inch square pan generously with butter (or coconut oil).
- Add first eight ingredients and blend until the beets and cashews are well chopped. Scrape down sides of blender as necessary.
- Add eggs and cocoa and pulse a few more times.
- Add oat flour, baking soda, arrowroot and chocolate chips. Blend on medium until well blended.
- Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Nutrition
Recipe by Joyce C Wallace, RN, Certified Health Coach. Joyce is a health advocate, avid gardener and passionate cook. She recently published a book, Navigating the Food Jungle filled with delightful recipes that are also good for you.
