Chocolate Muffins with Beetroot

Now this is what I’d call a perfect scam. Delicious chocolate muffins - that hide a considerable amount of beetroot in them! So far, I've been unable to motivate my kids to eat beetroot in any form. "It tastes good, just give it a try!" "It's healthy!" "See, it's pink, you love pink, don't you?" None of this would work. But today, they were begging for more!

Thanks to the beetroot, the muffins are very moist. Yet you don’t taste the presence of anything unusual. You have to try it out yourself to believe.. For a vegan version, change butter to vegan margarine, cream to a vegan cream, and leave the egg out.

For six muffins, you need:

• 90g butter


• 90g dark chocolate


• 150g cooked beetroot, pureed


• 80g sugar


• 20g cocoa powder


• 100g whole-grain spelt flour


• 1 egg


• 1,5 tsp baking powder


• 1 tsp vanilla sugar

Plus for the topping:

• 50ml heavy cream


• 50g sugar


• 10g dark chocolate

Set your oven to 200C. Melt butter with chocolate in a pan and set aside. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, and baking powder in a bowl. Add sugar and vanilla sugar, then chocolate-butter mixture, egg, and beetroot. Mix until smooth. Bake in a muffin pan for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the muffins cool on a rack.

In the meantime, prepare the topping:

Measure all ingredients in a pan. Heat until sugar and chocolate have melted in the cream, then let cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the mixture slightly thickens. Set aside, let cool a minute or two (so that you won't burn your fingers when spreading the topping) and using a spoon, spread over the muffins.

Serve with your favourite warm drink!