These Chocolate Beet Muffins are a real surprise! The beets make these muffins incredibly moist and hearty. The earthy flavor of the beets highlight the rich chocolate taste. It's the perfect breakfast muffin with a dose of vegetable and touch of chocolate.
Here's a secret when you're the main cook in the household. Booby trapping food can give you so much joy!
My husband hates the combination of fruit and meat (ie. pork and apples). If you tell him the meal had fruit and meat in it, no matter how fancy schmancy the meal was, or no matter how many hours I spent cooking the meal, he automatically won't touch it.
These Chocolate Beet Muffins are packed with beets, which give it its scarlet hue
So it became a thing to booby trap his food. If I made meatloaf, I would grate an apple into it.
When I made turkey for Thanksgiving, I filled the unseen cavity with oranges, apples and cranberries. When I made ham, I infused it with pineapple juice. Little did he know, it became a game for me to see how much fruit I could hide in his food before he noticed.
This recipe for Chocolate Beet Muffins is a real booby trap because it looks like it could be an unfrosted red velvet cupcake.
But instead, the muffin is packed with beets, which give it its scarlet hue. The beets also makes these muffins so moist and hearty, so don't be expecting a fluffy muffin that's light as a cloud and will leave you hungry an hour later.
Chocolate Beet Muffins make a delicious breakfast for the entire family
The secret ingredient makes this Chocolate Beet Muffin breakfast worthy and a bit healthier than a red velvet cupcake too. The beets add a natural sweetness, meaning there is less sugar in the recipe as compared to a red velvet cupcake, and you get a dose of vegetables to start the day.
You can see in the picture of the ingredients above that I grated the beets into rather long strips. I preferred it this way because it kept the texture of the beets in the muffin.
If you wanted to, you could grate the beets into smaller pieces to make it less obvious that the muffin is packed with grated beets.
I have to point out that the earthy flavor of the beets does run through these Chocolate Beet Muffins. So while it looks like a red velvet, it has a more complex taste that is carried by the shredded beets, though complemented by the chocolate.
The beets add a natural sweetness to these muffins and you get a dose of vegetables to start the day
This isn't a red velvet knock-off, so keep in mind that if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it doesn't always mean it's a duck. Beware of the booby traps! ;)
Chocolate Beet Muffins
Print Recipe Save RecipeIngredients
- 2 medium-sized beets (250 grams beetroot) (raw)
- scant 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (175 grams)
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup whole milk (60 milliliters)
- ½ cup light brown sugar (75 grams) - lightly packed
- ¼ cup caster sugar (55 grams)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (55 grams) - room temperature
- ¼ cup sunflower oil (60 milliliters)
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (150 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 355°F/180°C.
- Peel the beets and grate in food processor with a grating disc. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer on medium speed, cream together the sugars, butter and oil. Using the hand mixer on low speed, beat in the egg mixture. Slowly fold in the flour mixture.
- Using a spatula, mix in the grated beets and chocolate chips.
- Evenly divide the batter into 12 muffin cases. Each case should be about ¾ full.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the muffins are springy to the touch. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Angela says
These were fabulous! I made a few changes to lighten them up and because I was short on a few ingredients, and they were still delicious. I reduced the brown sugar to 1/3 c, and replaced half of the butter (2 Tbsp) and half of the white sugar (2 Tbsp) with 1/4 c unsweetened applesauce. I used 1/4 c of chocolate chips and 1/4 c butterscotch chips because that was all I had. I also only had about 115 g of beets, which I pureed in the food processor (because my kids won't eat "chunks"). Everyone loved them.
Tina Jui says
Hi Angela, thanks for the detailed comments and kind words about the recipe!
Julia says
Hi,
My hubby and I love these muffins. I was wondering has anyone tried freezing them? How did it go? Do they defrost soggy? I need to do some batch baking before I go on a trip and wanted to make these part of the plan.
Thanks for any advise.
Lilia says
I just loved this recipe! I tried it with yogurt instead of milk, to reduce its lactose content and the result was great! Moist, spongy and delicious. Thanks for sharing it!