Saturday, February 14, 2015

"The Beet Goes On" Cookies

While I don't ascribe to the huge spend-money-on-gifts shindig that is the commercialized holiday, being that it is Valentine's Day I figured I would share a somewhat festive treat. The difference between this one and your typical gift-wrapped sweets is two-fold: first, chocolate (or any cocoa product) is completely absent from the ingredient list and second, these are essentially health bombs in the guise of sugar-dusted, chewy, rich-tasting, heart shaped red velvet cookies.

The "Beet" Goes On Cookies

Not only are these babies made with partial whole grain flour and heart-healthy sunflower seed butter, but they're low in added sugar too - the bulk of the sweet and earthy flavour comes from the not-so-secret beet puree, which also colours and tenderizes the dough. Completely vegan, these lack any cholesterol and are substantial enough to serve as the "bread" in a frozen yoghurt "sandwich", yet soft and cakey enough for even the tenderest mouths to chew through easily. What better treat for a day of love than one everyone can share - young, old, vegan, omnivore, sweet-aholics and savoury fans alike?

"The Beet Goes On" Cookies
Makes ~36
1 lb fresh beets, roasted, peeled and diced
1/4 cup sunflower seed butter (like SunButter)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup oat flour or other whole grain flour
2 tsp baking powder
coarse sanding sugar for topping
  1. Place beets, sunflower seed butter, oil, vanilla, sugar and salt in a food processor and puree until very smooth.
  2. Add dry ingredients and pulse in to create a soft, but not too sticky, dough.
  3. Scrape dough onto a sheet of plastic, wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
  4. Preheat oven to 400F and line baking sheets with parchment.
  5. Shape dough using one of the two methods below.
  6.  Bake 18 minutes. Cool on the sheet.
Option 1:
  1. Scoop dough onto lined baking sheets and pat with damp fingers into hearts or rounds about 1/4" thick. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Option 2:
  1. Transfer dough to a piping bag (no tip) and pipe into desired shapes on the sheets. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Adapted from Apron Strings

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 78.0
Total Fat: 2.8 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 16.7 mg
Total Carbs: 11.7 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.0 g
Protein: 1.8 g

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