Chocolate and Beetroot Brownies
This is the picture in the recipe book – will Carole’s turn out like these?
Ingredients – Makes 16
- 250g fresh beetroot, cooked and peeled
- 250g unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus a little more fro greasing
- 250g good quality dark chocolate, broken into squares
- 250g golden caster sugar
- 3 free-range eggs
- 150g self-raising flour, sieved
- 100g walnuts or pistachios, roughly broken
What To Do
- Preheat oven to 170C. Line and grease a deep 20 x 20cm square baking tin.
- Chop the beetroot (wear rubber gloves to stop your skin staining) and blend with a dash of water until you have a smooth puree, adding more water as necessary.
- Pit the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until melted.
- in a separate bowl whisk together the sugar and eggs until smooth. Stir in the chocolate. Fold in the flour, nuts and the beetroot. Pour into the prepared tin.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until firm but still gooey in the centre when tested with a knife. When cool, cut into squares. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Here’s How Carole Did It
My first thoughts were that the ingredients seemed a bit expensive but once baked I had 24 pieces around 5cm square and they were very nice with ice cream!
I boiled the beetroot the night before. It can take around 2 hours until cooked and soft. When cold I peeled them by pushing off the layer of skin wearing gloves to stop my hands being stained purple.
It says to chop and blend the beetroot with a little water. I found it better to chop it with a knife and then mash with a fork.
I melted the chopped up butter and chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of bubbling water. Don’t rush this process or let any water into the mixture.
I think I whisked the eggs and sugar for longer than I needed to!
Here’s the chocolate and butter almost fully melted.
Mix together the chocolate butter mix with the egg and sugar mixture, then fold in the flour, nuts and beetroot. Then pour into a greased ovenproof dish.
The recipe said bake for 25 minutes but mine took around 45 minutes. I tested it by putting in a skewer – if it came out with no mixture on it then it was cooked.
Here they are cooling on the rack, looking just like the ones in the book!
Beetroot Dip
Here’s the picture from the recipe book!
Ingredients – serves 4-6
- 400g fresh beetroot, usually a bunch of 3
- 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for roasting
- Sprinkle of sea salt
- 6 tbsp thick Greek yogurt or creme fraiche
- 2 garlic gloves, crushed
- Toasted sourdough slices, to serve
What To Do
- Heat the oven to 180c. Remove any stalks or leaves, then roll each beetroot on a plate with a little olive oil sprinkled with salt. Wrap in foil and roast for an hour or until they are cooked through when tested with a knife.
- When the beetroot has cooled, peel them. You may want to wear rubber gloves to stop your skin from staining. Roughly chop and put in a blender with the rest of the olive oil, the yogurt or creme fraiche and the garlic. Whizz until smooth, then season to taste.
- To serve, scoop into a bowl and serve with slices of toasted sourdough.
Tip – swirl in a dollop of creme fraiche before serving to make it more creamy.
Here’s How Carole Did It:
This time it was easier to blend with the blender, possibly because it was with oil, not water. In the instructions it says to roast the beetroot but I already had leftover boiled beetroot from making the brownies.
Beetroot, garlic, oil, yogurt or creme fraiche, whizz or mash until blended.
Serve with bread, baked potato or a salad.