Red Velvet Chocolate Beet Cookies
Tender and cake-like--like red velvet cake. Finish with a swirl of chocolate honey glaze and you’ve got a gold-medal winner of a cookie. Makes about 50 2-inch cookies.
Prep Time20 minutes mins
Cook Time10 minutes mins
Total Time30 minutes mins
Course: Cookies, Dessert
Cuisine: Vegetarian
Keyword: beets, cookies, red velvet
Servings: 50 (2-inch) cookies.
Cookies:
- 1 cup avocado or grapeseed oil
- 1 cup honey
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup (3 to 4 beets), roasted (see note)
- 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (see note)
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder (for our 7000 feet above sea level I used 1 ½ teaspoons)
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Chocolate Honey Glaze:
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (55 to 70%)
- 4 ounces avocado or grapeseed oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
Make the cookies:
Preheat oven to 350° F. Slip the skins from the roasted beets. Chop them into small pieces, by hand or in a food processor.
In a blender puree the oil, honey, eggs, orange zest and vanilla.
Measure 1 cup of the chopped beets and add to the blender. Puree until smooth. Marvel at the color. Pour into a large bowl.
Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the beet, oil, and egg puree, then beat with the whisk for at least a minute.
Drop by tablespoons (or a #70 ice cream scoop) onto silicone baking mat or parchment-lined baking sheets.
Bake about 10 minutes, until the center of a cookie springs back when touched with a finger. Cool. Remove from the baking sheet with a spatula. (You won’t be able to pick the cookies up before scraping them from the pan.)
Spread a teaspoon or so of Chocolate Honey Glaze on top of each cookie.
Make the Chocolate Honey Glaze:
Place the chocolate, oil and honey in the top of a double boiler, over gently boiling water; the upper pan should not touch the water.
When the chocolate is almost melted, remove from the heat. Whisk gently until the oil and chocolate are incorporated. Cool until spreadable but not cold.
- Whole wheat pastry flour is 100% wheat, ground from low-protein softer wheat berries. You can substitute all-purpose flour or white pastry flour.
- To roast beets, scrub but do not peel. Slightly trim the root and stem ends. Place them in a dish with about 1/2-inch of water. Cover with a lid or aluminum foil and bake at 350° F. for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the beets. Pierce, using a knife or carving fork, to check for tenderness. Allow to cool. Slip off the skins.