Have you ever tried chocolate and beetroot brownies? If not, you should – they are delicious. They’re fairly easy to bake. Here’s the recipe, based on my first attempt. I’ve made them a few times since and am now a bit more proficient.
You will need (apologies that the quantities are in continental measurements that no one over the age of 30 understands. Actually, that’s not true. People over the age of 30 do understand them, we just choose not to):
Chocolate and Beetroot Brownies recipe according to Chippy:
• 250g dark chocolate
• 200g unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon Tia Maria (or other liqueur) (optional (hey, this is Chippy Minton cooking. Of course it’s not optional.))
• 250g cooked beetroot (note: NOT pickled. I don’t think this would work.)
• 3 eggs
• A drop of vanilla essence
• 200g caster sugar
• 50g cocoa powder
• 50g rice flour – though normal plain flour works just as well (except it won’t be gluten-free)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 100g ground almonds
Method:
1. Make sure you have plenty of hot water on tap. The reason for this will become apparent.
2. Start to weigh out the ingredients. Discover that the battery in your scales is flat.
3. Try to borrow steal the battery from the smoke detector until you realise that the smoke detector doesn’t have a removable battery.
4. Walk into town to buy a new battery. Get back home and start again.
5. Weigh out the ingredients.
6. Put on an apron, or some other protection for your clothes. This can get messy – your clothes need all the protection they can get.
7. Cook the beetroot (assuming it is currently uncooked). Takes about 20-35 minutes, depending on the size. It is easier to cook it with the skins on and then scrape them, as the skins come off more easily that way.
8. Break the chocolate into pieces; cut the butter into pieces; put both in a bowl.
9. You’ll probably find that the bars have more chocolate than you need and that you have a few pieces left over. Eat them.
10. Heat the bowl of chocolate and butter over a pan of simmering water until melted (that’s the chocolate and butter we want to melt, not the bowl. If the bowl melts you are in trouble).
OK, you could do this in the microwave, but unless you do it on a low setting and keep an eye on it there’s a risk it will start to boil and you make a whole dog’s breakfast of the whole rigmarole. Plus, doing it more slowly over water gives you time to get the rest of the ingredients ready.
11. Puree the cooked beetroot in a food processor or hand blender. Put the blended beetroot into a bowl and add the eggs, vanilla and sugar. Give it a good stir until all mixed in. It will look a bit like a raspberry daiquiri.
12. Sieve the flour and cocoa together into a third bowl.
13. Add the ground almonds. Not sure whether these are supposed to be sieved or not, or even whether it makes any difference. Give it all a good mix.
14. The chocolate mixture should be melted now. Add the liqueur and give it a good stir. Pour the beetroot mixture into the chocolate mixture (it’s easier this way round).
15. Stir it all together then stir in the dry ingredients.
16. Line a brownie-sized tin with baking paper. I’ve no idea how big a brownie-sized tin is supposed to be, so use your judgement. Pour the mixture in and adjust it until approximately level.
17. Scrape out the remains in the bowl and eat them.
18. Bake until cooked (30-35 minutes at 180/gas mark 4). It should be firm to the touch.
19. Turn round and think “that’s an awful lot of washing up I created”. That’s why you needed shedloads of hot water on tap.
20. Do the washing up and clean all the red beetroot stains from around the kitchen and put your apron in the wash. Unless, of course, the red stains are because you cut your hand on the food processor blade, in which case you should probably seek first aid.
21. Allow the brownies to cool, then cut into whatever shapes and sizes you feel like making.
22. Eat. With ice cream. Or cream. Or both.
yum they look good. I will have to make some.
Chippy,
You have the potential for the Bake-Off contest. Such a conversational style is rather unusual and er, affectionate, in some way.
I suspect these brownies were blood-stained. Be honest, what happened to you in Step 11?
It’s always interesting to notice other people’s kitchen utensils, their choice of kitchenware (in this case, from a certain period of time), and their kitchen tiles and floor.
This sound really yummy! I will have to replace the butter with dairy-free marg and the almonds with hazel nuts. And buy some tia maria….
Liked item 17. Always a favourite in our house.
And there was a young lad on Chris Evans’ breakfast show this morning telling him about his new snake, which he described as being about “2 feet long”…..much more meaningful than 600mm (though most would not use the correct ISO millimetres for this length, but convert to more practical centimetres (60)).