Beetroot Brownies / Beet Brownies / Beetroot Chocolate Brownies

 

            Being a mother its always a concern to feed my little one with vegetables. That is the most difficult part for me but blogging has led me to try out different recipes where I can make her eat veggies by hiding them as ingredients in some of her favorite foods. Well one such attempt is my Beetroot Brownies. I know this is not as healthy as eating vegetables directly but a slice or two with some veggies mashed in them is infact a better snack option than without them.

          Now your mind will pop this question -  How were these goodies?. The best part of these brownies were that they were moist, creamy, crumbled on the inside and had no signs of the secret ingredient "BEETROOT" until told to anyone who tasted it. The brownies did not smell the rawness of beets but its taste can be felt. I got around 12 medium pieces of brownies for the listed ingredients. Trust me, from elders to little ones - no one will stop with one slice. So what are you waiting for, just get your counter top ready and start mixing in your BEETS...

Ingredients:

Semi Sweet Chocolate - 3 ounces / 85 grams (chop to melt easily)
Beetroot - 85 grams (Fresh beet cooked and pureed)
Butter - 1/2 cup (1 stick or 8 tablespoons at room temperature)
Cocoa Powder - 1 tablespoon
Sugar -  (Ground to fine powder)
Vanilla Essence - 1 teaspoon
Eggs - 2 no's (at room temperature)
All Purpose Flour / Self Raising Flour - 2/3 cup (I used APF)
Salt - 1/4 teaspoon (If unsalted butter is used)
Almonds - 1/4 cup or 30 almonds (Crushed or roughly powdered)



Pre - Arrangements:

• Clean the beetroot well. Take a pan, place the beetroot and add water above 1/2 inch of beet and close cook until the beets are soft or tooth pick can be inserted easily when poked. Once cooled, drain the water and peel the skin. Make a paste of this cooked beetroot without adding water in a food processor.

• Mix Flour, salt, cocoa powder in a bowl, Powder the sugar, Roughly crush the almonds, Beat egg and vanilla essence together. Keep these things ready in separate bowls.

• Grease and line a parchment paper in an 8x10 inch pan. Pre-heat your oven to 350'F / 180'C for 10 minutes and place the rack in the center.

Method:

• Melt Butter and Chocolate together in a stainless steel bowl placed over pan of simmering water. Remove the Melted butter chocolate and add in the powdered sugar, Mix well. 

• Whisk by adding Egg and vanilla extract mixture little by little to the same bowl (Whisk well fast to avoid the egg from cooking because of melted chocolate heat). Once its beaten well, add Flour, salt, Cocoa powder mixture little by little. Fold everything together lightly(to avoid letting in air into the batter).

• Add Beetroot puree and crushed almonds to the batter and fold in from all sides. Beautiful Red brown batter is ready.

• Pour the batter to the greased pan and spread neatly. Bake it for about 20-25 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out with baked crumbles (Remember we do not want them baked fully as brownies needs little moisture inside but cooked too. it took me 25 minutes exactly).

• Remove the brownies from your oven and let it rest in the bake tray for 10 minutes. Then remove the brownies to wire rack, cool down completely and cut down to pieces. 

My Notes:

• Always remember that the amount of chocolate and beetroot should be the same. If you take 100 grams of chocolate then add in 100 grams of Beetroot.
• If you dont prefer to add cooked beetroot then simply grate them in the thinner blade and add directly or grate/slice beats, steam cook and then add it but little bit of raw smell and taste tends to exist and so I am adding completely cooked beets. 
• Do not waste the water of cooked beets as it can be used while making chappathi dough or for boiling pasta like i did though pasta turned red :).
• I used only 1/2 cup+2 teaspoon of sugar when I made as my beets were very sweet. So please adjust if your beets are very sweet after cooking.
• When eggs are added try to whisk fast and quickly as our butter chocolate melt will be slightly hot and that might make the eggs to cook.
• After adding flour, fold in from all sides so that too much air does not get inside the batter which would let the brownies raise.
• Baking time might differ according to the oven used so the best way to check if the brownies are ready is by pricking a toothpick inside and you get cooked crumbles on the toothpick. Please note to not over bake them or to get the toothpick clean because brownies need to be moist.