Monday, February 20, 2017

Chocolate Beet Muffins

While Valentine's Day is over, we are still firmly entrenched in the month of all things "chocolate". Granted, for me (and most of the women I know!) every month, if not every day, is worthy of celebrating with chocolate, and what better way to celebrate than with a decadent, yet (slightly) virtuous muffin that you can enjoy for breakfast, with coffee or as dessert?

Chocolate Beet Muffins

I adore muffins for their simplicity and variability - you can have a relatively run-of-the-mill blueberry or chocolate chip from the bakery, or take things up a notch at home with your favourite ingredients. For example, these rich, sweet mouthfuls I whipped up for V-Day are made not with eggs, but a mixture of chia seed and aquafaba. Seeing as it's also "heart month", I utilized the cholesterol-lowering benefits of oats in my flour choice, and I also couldn't resist utilizing one of my favourite heart-healthy foods: beets. Coincidentally, beets also pair beautifully with dark chocolate, infusing an earthy sweetness into the bitter cocoa mass. For extra moisture and flavour,  buttermilk stepped up, admirably filling in any dry spots that might have dared show up in the batter. Finally, because I was feeling fancy, I tossed a sprinkle of white chocolate chips on top.

Thankfully, these aren't the type of sweet that needs to cool down before enjoying (although if you put them directly from oven to freezer for 30 minutes you're rewarded with an almost brownie-like texture), so go ahead and sneak one once they're cool enough to handle. If you burn the roof of your mouth, I'm not responsible!

Chocolate Beet Muffins
Makes 24
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
½ cup coconut oil, softened
⅓ cup canola oil
2 tbsp ground chia seed
½ cup aquafaba
1 cup roasted beet puree (about 250g roasted beets)
1 tbsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ¼ cups oat flour
¾ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder (I used my favourite one)
¼ cup Ghiradelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup buttermilk
white chocolate chips, to top (optional)
  1. Heat oven to 350F and grease two muffin pans.
  2. Cream together the sugars, coconut oil and canola oil.
  3. Beat in chia seed and aquafaba, then beat in beets and vanilla extract until thoroughly combined.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, cocoa powder, sweet ground chocolate and cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
  5. Add half of the dry ingredients to the beet mixture.
  6. Beating on low speed, slowly add buttermilk.
  7. Add the other half of the dry ingredients and beat on medium speed until milk and dry ingredients are just incorporated. Cake batter will be thick.
  8. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes, then unmold from pan and set on wire cooling rack.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 183.0
Total Fat: 8.6 g
Cholesterol: 0.4 mg
Sodium: 46.6 mg
Total Carbs: 28.3 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.2 g
Protein: 3.0 g

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