This week is National Baking Week and to celebrate I decided to make brownies, very special brownies with a intriguing ingredient. My love of baking is well documented. I enjoy it because it is stress-relieving, creative, rewarding, fun and I believe a home-baked good is always better than shop bought.
Hugh is officially a god. If he can turn a humble beetroot into a glorious, moist, rich chocolate brownie he’s a god in my eyes. Hey you know what I’m like, I’m always drawn to pink food like a magpie to anything shiny, and if it is pink and glittery…well I’m hooked. The taste was nothing like I expected. You can certainly taste the beetroot, but rather than it being an earthy taste its paring with dark chocolate turns it into a deep sweet taste, not unlike cherries. This has helped conquer my belief of vegetables not belonging in cakes.
This recipe was featured on River Cottage Autumn last week and has caused a bit of a stir on foodie forums. One thing I did find was that I had to bake it for quite a bit longer than the original recipe, but this is probably because I used a different sized pan.
Beetroot Brownies Recipe
makes 16 squares
From River Cottage Autumn
Ingredients:
- 250g 70% dark chocolate
- 250g unsalted butter
- 250g caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 150g self-raising flour
- 250g boiled beetroot, grated (boil your own, or use ready boiled-as long as it’s not pickled!)
Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 180oc. Line an 8×8 In a bain-marie (or using the oven method Hugh uses in the above link) gently melt together the chocolate and butter. Allow to cool for a few minutes.
2)Whisk together the sugar and butter then beat in the chocolate/butter mix.
3)Fold in the flour then beetroot. Pour into the tin and bake for 20-30 or until a skewer come out just about clean. Allow to cool in tin before slicing as it will continue to cook until cooled.