A few weeks back I was contact to review a cookbook, Eat Right for Your Site, that promised to be full of “recipes that focus on eye health” with “simple and approachable dishes.” These recipes would include ingredients that would promote vision health, specifically macular degeneration.
First off, I will never say no to a cookbook…ever. And simple and approachable are pretty much my middle name (or at least should be) so of course I said yes.
Flipping though there’s recipes for sweet pea guacamole and spicy udon noodles, chicken with mushrooms and thyme and also roasted red pepper gazpacho – really, this cookbook has a little bit of everything. But what really struck my eye was these chocolate beet cupcakes with chocolate yogurt frosting.
I mean, I love a good cupcake, but a cupcake that includes beets, I was curious to see how that was going to go down. Now where the eye health part comes in are in those blood red beets, which are packed full of fiber and carotenoids. So basically, you need to eat these cupcakes for your health! (At least that’s what I’m telling myself.)
I adapted this recipe slightly by switching out vegetable oil for coconut oil and using a mix of flours (whole wheat and AP). They turned out chocolaty and delicious with speckles of grated beets throughout and it was topped with a delicious chocolate yogurt frosting.
Now my frosting came out more the consistency of a glaze. I even attempted to add some confectioner’s sugar to stiffen it a bit, but that was unsuccessful. Still delicious, just a little on the soft side.
Even with the faulty frosting, these cupcakes were moist and flavorful with just a hint of coconut and topped with a chocolaty, raspberry frosting/glaze. I may have eaten 2 3 4.
Serves: 8-10 cupcakes
ingredients
chocolate beet cupcakes
½ cup unbleached all purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¾ cup sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup coconut oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup hot water
1 heaping cup grated cooked beets
chocolate yogurt frosting
¾ cup milk chocolate chips
6 ounces vanilla yogurt, room temperature
¼ cup confectioner’s sugar
¼ cup fresh raspberries
instructions
chocolate beet cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line cupcake tin with liners.
To prepare the beets, boil them until fork tender and then remove. Let cool, peel off the outside skin and grate.
In a medium bowl, mix together all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together sugar and coconut oil. Coconut oil should be in liquid form. Once the oil and sugar are mixed together, beat eggs in, one at a time until incorporated. Add vanilla and mix.
Beat in the dry ingredients in two batches until mixture is just incorporated. Add hot water and mix until batter is smooth.
Beat in the grated beet and then spoon the mixture into prepared cupcake liners.
I used tall cupcake liners and got about 8 cupcakes, but standard cupcake liners will yield closer to 10 cupcakes.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted into the middle and comes out clean.
Remove cupcakes from tin and let cool
chocolate yogurt frosting
In a double boiler, melt chocolate chips until smooth and then set aside until it reaches room temperature.
In a bowl, mix together yogurt and raspberries, mashing the raspberries as you combine.
Slowly add yogurt mixture to chocolate. You may not need all the yogurt mixture, you’ll want to stir in just enough to get a frosting like consistency. If you frosting is on the thin side, add confectioner’s sugar until it thickens up.
Once the cupcakes are completely cool, frost and serve immediately. If you have any remaining cupcakes, refrigerate in an airtight container.
