Beetroot Brownies

I made these before and swore never to make them again. The other day I made a beetroot risotto and the beetroot was so sweet that I was convinced to make these with the one remaining beetroot from the bunch.  

 I couldn't remember which recipe I used last timebut when I googled it there appeared to be only one, a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall one so I went with that.

 Mr VST and I made them together which made them super easy to make. He first melted the butter and chocolate together and then grated the beetroot while waiting for these to melt.

 I mixed the beaten egg and sugar together and then added the melted chocolate and butter to that before folding in the flour and the beetroot.

 The recipe says that you have to use cooked beetroot, which I did, and then it says you can either grate or purée it.

 We grated it but I think I would try pureeing it next time. Anyway I mixed it all together and popped it in the oven.

 I popped it in the oven after the I took the pasta bake out and did so without realising that I had switched the oven to 'grill'. Halfway through eating our pasta bake I could smell burning and realised that I'd grilled the brownies rather than baked them. 

 I cut the burnt top off and Mr VST and I ate it with some ice cream, it tasted fine. I thought the brownies were cooked but they were still a bit soft inside and so I popped them back into the oven to cook through. 

 They turned out fine. The beetroot didn't ruin the brownies by giving out an earthy flavour as it had the last time. I took them down to Cornwall and had them tested by the masses and they went down well. Maybe beetroot brownies have earned a reprieve. 

Thursday

Thurday, Thursday, Mr VST was out and I didn't bother cooking for myself as I wasn't that hungry. Think I nibbled on a sweet potato brownie and drank lots of tea.

Sweet Potato Brownies

The wonderful Dan Lepard has been publishing delicious recipes in the Guardian each weekend and last weekend it was a recipe that replaced some of the sugar and butter in brownies was baked sweet potato. Recipes with unusual ingredients pique my interest and so I decided to give it a go. 

I baked my sweet potatoes and the skin peeled off quite easily. I scooped out the flesh as described in the recipe. I beat it together with the soft brown sugar.

...and then added the melted chocolate and butter.

I don't usually believe in nuts in brownies but this time I happened to have a packet of pecans in the cupboard and so I mixed them in with the chunks of chocolate.

When they came out of the oven they didn't quite look cooked but I trusted Dan and he was right about the cooking time.

They were good, nowhere near as good as my fall back, full fat, Nigel Slater recipe, but they were worth a try.