Beet Brownies

Vegetarian Times calls these red velvet brownies. Let's not be euphemistic: the red comes from a can of root vegetables. Yet they are so good, even your most mainstream dessert-loving friends will clamor for them. The beets give the brownies a rich hue, a moistness as of rain-drenched earth, and a succulent cellulose toothsomeness. This is basically a Vegetarian Times recipe, but with more chocolate. 

one 9 x 9 pan is best, but you can use 9 x 13 for flatter brownies, like those shown above

Ingredients

2 large cooked beets (HA HA) or 1 15-oz. can beets, rinsed and drained (the lazy crumpet opts for this)

• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup flour
• ¼ cup plus 2 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder (I heave in four tablespoonfuls and hope it's the right amount)
• pinch of salt
• 1 Tbs. instant espresso powder
• 1 cup chocolate chips (My approach is to pour these in without measuring. What's the worst that can happen?)
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• Process

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Preheat oven to 350. Butter the pan if you want.

Puree the beets. I use an immersion blender stick attached to a chopper/grinder. 

Mix the melted butter and sugar until frothy. Add the vanilla and eggs, then stir in the beets. You'll have a lovely pink batter.

Mix the flour, salt, cocoa powder, and espresso powder in another bowl. Gently combine the two mixtures.

Pour in as many chocolate chips as you want. Give a few swipes to the batter to make sure they're uniformly dispersed.

Bake 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the size pan you use.

Notes

None. This is a simple recipe and hard to improve or mess up. You can even cut the brownies relatively quickly after they come out of the oven.

Verdict

4 stars.