Friday, 26 August 2011

WHB Chocolate beetroot brownies

The first time I went to make these beetroot brownies last week I only had two eggs in the fridge and one was for Sylvia's boiled egg in the morning.  The other egg went into an apple and date cake that then accompanied E into work to a meeting where it was gobbled up.  We bought more eggs and I made the beetroot brownies.  Finally!  They were worth waiting over three years to make.

The recipe came from Karen Martini in the Sunday Age in 2008.   I meant to keep the page with the recipe.  I lost it.  Fortunately Cindy and Michael posted it.  I never forgot it.  I just took a while to get there.  Good intentions and all that!  After unsuccessfully fiddling with Kari's brownies, I stuck to the recipe.

It was fantastic: fudgy and pink!  I loved it.  So did my mum.  Sylvia took an occasional bite.  E thought it was too beetrooty.  I sort of know what he means.  They weren't rich, chocolate or gooey but I loved the dense texture that comes from combining vegetable, nuts and chocolate.  It felt a little more healthier than the average brownie but very pleasing nevertheless.

I am sending this to Rinku of Cooking in Westchester for Weekend Herb Blogging #298, the event coordinated by Haalo and founded by Kalyn.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Taste of Melbourne: on a sugar high
This time two years ago: PPN Neofolk Buckwheat Pasta Bake
This time four years ago: Blues Clues Birthday Cake

Chocolate beetroot brownies
from Karen Martini via Where's the Beef?

100g butter, softened
100g brown sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
110g plain flour
4 eggs
90g dark chocolate, melted
100g ground almonds
115g raw beetroot, finely grated
50g extra chocolate, melted (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.

Cream together the butter and sugar. Mix in the vanilla, nutmeg and flour. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well combined. Fold in melted chocolate (at room temperature), ground almonds and grated beetroot.

Spoon the brownie mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out cleanly.

Optional: Once the brownie has cooled, drizzle the melted chocolate over the top before slicing and serving. Ours lasted almost a week - the top went a bit soft but the cake remained moist and fudgy.

On the stereo:
Love: The Beatles
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17 comments:

  1. Joanne27 August 2011 at 02:09

    They look so fudgy! I love that they have extra nutrition in them from the beets.

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  2. Choclette27 August 2011 at 02:33

    I bet these were delicious. There is something very satisfying I find about using healthful ingredients in cakes. And I do like the additional depth of colour that beetroot brings to a chocolate cake. I haven't actually baked with them this year, which is a little remiss of me as I've got loads of beetroot down at the plot which I can't seem to keep up with.

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  3. Chele27 August 2011 at 04:11

    Oooooooooh, pink brownies!!! LOVE IT! I've never plucked up the courage to bake with beetroot but I have always wanted to. Maybe this is a good place to start!

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  4. Cindy27 August 2011 at 09:18

    Oh, I'm really glad you loved this recipe! As you noted it's not a super-chocolatey brownie. I remember liking that I could taste the beetroot and almonds just as much. I'm way overdue to make it again myself. :-)

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  5. Hannah27 August 2011 at 15:01

    This is *definitely* my type of brownie! Though I'll never forget the first time I grated raw beetroot... I didn't put on an apron and ended up with red splatters all over my clothing!

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  6. Katie27 August 2011 at 16:12

    These look wonderful and I love the texture. I'm impressed they stayed so pinky/purple. Often when I've used beetroot most of the colour has dissapeared. Lovely and fudgy

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  7. Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella27 August 2011 at 21:34

    I never seem to have any luck with Karen Martini's recipes! I've tried quite a few to no avail :(

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  8. Anh28 August 2011 at 11:14

    Beetroot brownie! Now that's something I'd love to try

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  9. Kari28 August 2011 at 13:11

    I'm so glad you had a beetroot brownie success! And having brownies taste slightly healthy is a good excuse to eat more, in my opinion :)

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  10. Anonymous28 August 2011 at 22:26

    It sounds great the way it is to me Johanna, but if you want to try a more chocolatey one for E try this one, the beetroot is definitely there, but in the background.

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  11. Johanna GGG28 August 2011 at 23:17

    Thanks Joanne - it always feels good to be adding to your daily veg consumption by eating cake!

    Thanks Choclette - many beetroots in your garden sounds like a wonderful thing - they are so good with chocolate but I have held off using the rest of the bunch because I am waiting for a meal where the beetroot colour wont overwhelm the meal - so I understand why they might be neglected

    Thanks Chele - baking with beetroot is a wonderful thing - it gives the same sort of sweetness and moistness that carrot gives - I highly recommend you try it

    Thanks Cindy - definitely a recipe that I hope to repeat - I liked how the texture was so right for the brownie without tasting really decadent - great for the lunchbox

    Thanks Hannah - I didn't use an apron when I grated the beetroot but I do take care not to ever wear really light colours when cooking with it

    Thanks Katie - I was surprised that the colour was still quite prominent (though not all of my photos were quite as pink as the ones I chose)

    Thanks Lorraine - interesting to hear that - I am not a huge fan of karen martini and haven't bought her book, yet I have tried a few of her recipes with great success

    Thanks Anh - am sure you would love them

    Thanks Kari - am glad you reminded me of this recipe with your recent beetroot brownies

    Thanks Anon - would love to try Jacqueline's cake some time when I am up for a real chocolatey one - have it bookmarked because it looks so good!

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  12. Ricki29 August 2011 at 00:29

    Yay for beetroot brownies! I've made beet chocolate cake and it was divine. I am going to try these--I bet they'd work with flax eggs!

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  13. Caroline29 August 2011 at 01:02

    They look like they've got a lovely fudgy texture, and I love the way they're still a bit pink too! Yum!

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  14. Simona Carini30 August 2011 at 15:53

    Beetroot and chocolate is a great pairing. I like the color of your brownies. I think it is good that you can taste the beets.

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  15. Chinese Soup Pot3 September 2011 at 02:03

    What a nice way to sweeten the fudgy brownie with beetroot! Genius.

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  16. Anonymous9 September 2011 at 18:38

    Yum, these look so moist and delicious! Nice to see you had Beatles Love playing - my hubby went and saw the show in Vegas when he was over for work. So jealous!

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  17. eatme_delicious15 September 2011 at 02:19

    Yaey glad you were able to find a successful beet brownie recipe! That seems like a ton of eggs though especially since I'm not really eating eggs right now hm. I really want to try these though.

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