Growing up, the only beets I can recall encountering were those canned slices at holidays. Once or twice a year, I remember those maroon circles, swimming in bright purple water on my Grandma’s crystal appetizer platter.
I never sampled said holiday beets, I pretty much avoided anything that wasn’t a delicious sugary treat at grandma’s house (bonus if it came individually wrapped in its own package!).
Years ago, when I first met my husband; I encountered beets again. We were all back in my college town, Ames for a football game. (GO ISU!). I made plans with my girlfriends to have Sunday brunch at one of our favorite places- The Cafe.
At this point, I was still pretty new to the paleo / primal way of eating. I had recently converted from vegetarianism (via a bacon festival- seriously!); and was still trying to navigate this new way of living.
As you might expect, there were many non-paleo choices on the menu- pancakes, muffins, etc, etc.
And then, an item caught my eye: red flannel hash.
Roasted sweet potatoes, runny eggs and BACON. And what’s this… roasted beets? Um, alright, flashbacks of jiggly sliced beets. Most things are edible when roasted… so I went for it.
Insanely delicious! The sweet of the potato with the sweet of the beets… with crunch salty bacon… and everything is better topped with a runny egg!
Beets were back in my life after that, and red flannel hash has become a staple breakfast in our kitchen.
Wait a minute, isn’t this a muffin recipe??? When I sat down to write this up… I couldn’t remember whyyyyyy we have dozens of jars of homemade canned beets in our basement. I couldn’t remember why I would care about beets… until I remembered the red flannel hash.
I’ll write that recipe up soon (promise!)
But for now, MUFFINS.
Beets have a delicious, natural sweetness to them. Some describe it as earthy… which pairs perfectly with the richness of CHOCOLATE.
These muffins are dense, moist and chocolatey… plus with an extra serving of veggies, and no added sugar, they basically meet all my requirements for a baked good!
These are quite simple to make, and you can add anything you would like to them!
I tried chocolate chips (duh!) and walnuts. I think bits of cherry or strawberry would be great too!
Eat them warm with some melted Kerrygold butter.. and its all goooood.
Chocolate Beet Muffins – Paleo
Ingredients
- 1/4 Cup Bronner’s Organic Coconut Oil
- 1/2 Cup Anthony’s Organic Coconut Flour
- 1/4 Cup Wild Soil Almond Butter
- 1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Aluminum-Free Baking Powder
- 4 Eggs
- 1/2 Cup cooked Beets (roasted, canned)- make sure the skin is OFF
- 3 Heaping Tbsp Raw Cacao Powder
- 4 Small RIPE Bananas (about 1 1/4 Cup)
- 1 Tbsp Cinnamon
- Pinch of Salt
- Dairy-Free Chocolate Chips (Optional)
- Walnut Pieces (Optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350.
- Line a muffin pan with unbleached muffin liners. (or skip this step… I’ll do anything to get out of washing a dish!!)
- With a fork, mash the bananas and beets in a bowl. This shoud be pretty easy, since they are super ripe and soft.
- Add the remaining ingredients, mix thoroughly. Of course you can pop everything in the blender as well 😀
- These do puff up a bit, so fill your liners about 2/3 full.
- Bake for 20 minutes at 350, or until a toothpick is clean.
Notes
If you need to ripen your bananas quick- check out this tutorial: Ripen Bananas in the Oven
