Rose Meringues (Cheat)

A long time ago, I made my first ever batch of meringues. They were shaped like roses and crossed between pink and white. They were perfect.

I made them for a bake sale, actually, and let me tell you now, that they are possibly the best things you could sell at a bake sale. Input – 3 egg whites and some sugar. Output – $$$. They’re actually insanely easy and cheap to make, and you can sell each one for a decent profit.

Rose Meringues

Ingredients

• 3 egg whites, room temperature
• 3/4 cup (150g) fine sugar
• Pinch of cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Pink food coloring (preferably powdered)*

*Meringues call for preferably powdered food coloring, as it keeps them dry. If you use liquid-based food colouring, as long as you keep them in an airtight container in the fridge, you should be fine. I’ve also had success using beetroot powder as colouring.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 90 degrees Celsius or 200 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer or a medium bowl with an electric hand mixer, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar until you get soft peaks. Add in the sugar a tablespoon at a time, and then turn the mixer to the highest speed and whip until meringue is stiff and glossy. This should take a few minutes. Beat in vanilla extract.
3. Divide the meringue into bowls and tint them using food coloring of your choice. Transfer into a piping bag with a 1M piping tip and pipe roses (spirals that start from the middle and circulate outwards) onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake both trays until crisp, but not browned. This can take anywhere from 1-1.5 hours depending on the size and humidity. You should be able to remove the meringues from the parchment paper without them sticking. Store in an airtight container in the fridge

Red Velvet Beetroot Pancakes (Clean)

A few weeks ago in mid-January, I was scrolling through Foodgawker as I always do, and I noticed that people had already started posting Valentine’s Day recipes, and I was pretty confused – it wasn’t even February yet! Well, now that it’s actually February, here’s a “Valentine’s Day”-inspired recipe, because you can’t go wrong with pink food on Valentine’s! Not to mention – gluten-free, sugar-free, and oil-free pink!

Might I add that you don’t need to have a significant other or a Valentine to make these? Yeah, yeah, Valentine’s is usually about those you love romantically, but that doesn’t mean that love stops there. Make these to show your appreciation for your mother, your father, your brother, or even for yourself, because you should love yourself no matter what. There will always be times where you get down and feel like you aren’t worthy and capable of achieving the expectations that society throws at you, and your mind may automatically begin to close out all the things you love about yourself until you feel worthless. Times like that, take a break from the world and recall all the amazing things you’ve achieved in life and kind things you’ve done, no matter whether it was winning a race or taking the time to donate a little to a charity you support. All of those moments, added up, will be infinite. Thus, your love for yourself should be just that – infinite.

With all that deep life talk aside, let’s just appreciate these pancakes.

These pancakes are quite fluffy and the beetroot flavor isn’t evident at all (good for those who don’t like beetroot – if you do, I guess you could add in double the amount of beetroot and see how that goes…). If you have a heart-shaped cookie cutter or egg-shaper, that would just bring these to the next level and make them look so gorgeous. Plus, I wouldn’t omit the melted chocolate, because that just contributes so much to the appearance, flavor, and Valentine-feel. As for fruit, chocolate-dipped strawberries or raspberries would be beautiful as well if you’re short on cherries!

Oh, and may I also add that these photos were taken nearly a year ago? Obviously, my photography and editing have come a long way, but this recipe is too good not to share. Plus, I’m quite happy with this gif:

Red Velvet Beetroot Pancakes

Adapted from Dessert With Benefits

Makes 6-10, depending on size

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 1 tablespoon raw cacao powder
• 2 teaspoons powdered stevia
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup beetroot purée*
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup milk of choice
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• Melted chocolate/fresh fruit, for serving (optional, but recommended)

*To make the beetroot purée, stick the beetroots (unpeeled) in a big pot of boiling water until they’re soft, peel them, and purée them in a food processor. Use leftovers for any of these recipes calling for beetroot purée.

Method

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, cocoa powder, stevia, baking powder, and salt
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the beetroot purée and eggs, before whisking in the milk of choice, vanilla extract, and vinegar
3. Heat a pancake pan or a relatively flat saucepan over medium heat. Spray with oil and spoon about 1/4-1/3 cup of mixture onto the pan, spreading them into circles. Cook until the edges are dry and the surface is slightly dry. The pancakes take longer to cook than regular pancakes, so about 3-5 minutes.
4. Flip and cook for about a minute on the other side, before flipping out onto a plate. Continue to cook the batter until all of it is used up.
5. Stack them up, top with melted chocolate and fresh fruit, and serve!

 

Unbelievably Healthy Beetroot Chocolate Microwave Cake (Clean)

Every year, millions of people make new year’s resolutions in determination to live a healthier year, and every year, millions of people cry. Personally, as you may have noticed from my little new year’s rant, I’m rather indifferent to new year’s resolutions. Nonetheless, I’m here to help out those in distress; sugar-free, gluten-free, oil-free, and veganize-able beetroot chocolate microwave cake under 200 calories to the rescue!

Let’s start off with the nutritional breakdown of this golden nugget – each serving has 186 calories, 1g of saturated fat, and 2g of sugar! On the other hand, 8g of protein! *Does happy dance*

There was a point where I was absolutely obsessed with using beetroot puré. Hence, the beetroot nut butter chocolate cups and the beetroot vanilla rice pudding with dark chocolate and the pink beetroot crepes and the skinny fudgy-cakey beetroot brownie bits. All of which, by the way, would work in benefit for that new year’s resolution of yours. Just sayin’.

This chocolate microwave cake is honestly one of my all-time favorites. It’s a shame that I can’t make it everyday, as beetroot purée isn’t exactly a staple in my house. Hence, there was a point where I just got a good load of beetroot and boiled it up and puréed it and made a ton of recipes with it, which you can do as well! Plus, adding it to your smoothies and oatmeal turns it bright pink, which always brightens your day.

This cake is so insanely soft and decadent and sweet and chocolately and it’s seriously what I’d eat everyday if I were in heaven. The beetroot purée keeps it ridiculously moist, and the egg white (can be substituted for vegans) keeps it fluffy and prevents it from getting too dense or spongey the way some microwave cakes get. Also, you gotta love the fact that this is sweetened with stevia only, which is a naturally sweet plant that I love using in baking. This recipe calls for 3 teaspoons of the powdered version, but you may need to change this around if you’re using pure stevia (you’ll need like, 1/10th of a teaspoon in that case – that stuff is strong!) or liquid stevia.

The smooth, rich, glossy layer of melted chocolate that sits atop the cake is optional, obviously, but come on. Just look at that chocolate! I’d very very highly recommend throwing a sizable square of chocolate on top of the mixture just before you microwave it, because that just turned the cake into a gooey chocolate mess, and nobody can deny the fact that gooey chocolate messes taste better than single-textured chocolate cake, no matter how moist and fluffy and decadent.

Beetroot Chocolate Microwave Cake

Makes 2 cakes

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup beetroot purée*
• 1/3 cup milk of choice
• 1 egg white or 2 tbsp aquafaba (the water from a can of chickpeas)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup oat flour
• 2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
• 3 teaspoons powdered stevia (adjust to taste)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• Large square of dark chocolate (optional, but highly recommended)
• Powdered sugar (optional)

*To make the beetroot purée, stick the beetroots (unpeeled) in a big pot of boiling water until they’re soft, peel them, and purée them in a food processor. Use leftovers for any of these recipes calling for beetroot purée.

Method

1. In a small bowl, use a fork or whisk to combine the beetroot purée, milk of choice, egg white/aquafaba, and vanilla extract until fully combined.
2. Add in the oat flour, cacao powder, stevia, baking powder, and salt, and mix until just combined. Do not over-mix.
3. Transfer mixture into two greased ramekins or mugs. Place the dark chocolate on top of the mixture if desired.
4. Microwave the ramekins/mugs on high for 2-3 minutes (depending on the wattage of your microwave and how gooey/cooked you want your cake to be). Dust with powdered sugar and serve immediately.

 

Nutrition Facts
Servings 2.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 186
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 3 g	5 %
Saturated Fat 1 g	5 %
Monounsaturated Fat 0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg	0 %
Sodium 91 mg	4 %
Potassium 266 mg	8 %
Total Carbohydrate 30 g	10 %
Dietary Fiber 6 g	23 %
Sugars 2 g
Protein 8 g	16 %
Vitamin A	2 %
Vitamin C	3 %
Calcium	10 %
Iron	14 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

Skinny Fudgy-Cakey Beetroot Brownie Bites (Cheat)

Summer vacation is my favorite time of year. If you’re not on vacation right now, I am so sorry.

What have I been doing this summer? Partying – in my kitchen. I did watch Jurassic World the other day, though. Chris Pratt is lyfe ❤

About the title – because this recipe does have butter and flour and whatnot, I couldn’t classify it as a ‘clean’ recipe, but it is a lightened-up version and each brownie is small, making it a perfect small snack that wouldn’t fatten anyone up – hence the ‘skinny’ part. Each brownie bite is less than 100 calories, too! Nutrition info is at the end of this post.

Let’s talk brownies. I’d say that most people like fudgy brownies as opposed to cakey brownies. When someone asks me, I say fudgy, but personally, I don’t think that brownies fall under two simple categories.

I used to associate “cakey brownies” with the texture of chocolate cake, which I assume a lot of people do, and I’d associate “fudgy brownies” with just the average brownie. As much as I love sweets, some brownie recipes out there make me cringe at how insanely fudgy they are, with a single bite having enough calories to last the day.

So let me try to describe these brownies. They’re soft, fluffy, moist, flavorful, and bite-sized. They are neither “fudgy” nor “cakey”, but a delicious hybrid of both.

*This recipe is vegan-ize-able. Replace the butter with Earth Balance and the egg with a chia/flax egg

**To make the beetroot purée, just stick the beetroots (unpeeled) in a big pot of boiling water until they’re soft, peel them, and purée them in a food processor. If you have leftovers, you can use it to naturally dye all your food pretty and pink, or use it to make my many recipes that use beetroot purée

Fudgy-Cakey Beetroot Brownie Bites

Adapted from Boards and Knives

Makes 36 bite-sized brownies

Ingredients:

• 8 tablespoons (120g) unsalted butter*
• 150g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 1 cup beetroot purée**
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg*
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Powdered sugar (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a double boiler, microwave (at intervals), or directly in a saucepan, melt the butter
3. Gently stir the chocolate pieces into the bowl/saucepan with the butter until melted
4. Remove from heat if using double boiler or saucepan, and stir in the beetroot purée, vanilla extract, sugar, and salt. When the mixture has mostly cooled, stir in the egg as well
5. Fold in the flour and baking powder until combined. Do not over-mix
6. Transfer the mixture into a greased or lined 8×8 (inch) cake tin and spread the batter so that it fills the cake tin properly
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly before cutting into bite-sized pieces and sifting on powdered sugar if desired

Nutrition Facts
Servings 36.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 87
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 4 g	7 %
Saturated Fat 3 g	14 %
Monounsaturated Fat 1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 12 mg	4 %
Sodium 145 mg	6 %
Potassium 19 mg	1 %
Total Carbohydrate 11 g	4 %
Dietary Fiber 0 g	2 %
Sugars 7 g
Protein 1 g	2 %
Vitamin A	2 %
Vitamin C	0 %
Calcium	1 %
Iron	1 %

Pink Beetroot Crepes (Clean)

So Mother’s Day is this Sunday. Make these for her, and she’ll probably forgive you for every phone (or, in my case, every watch) you’ve ever lost.

These crepes look fancy and all, but trust me, you have no idea how incredibly easy they are to make. The batter is just 4 main ingredients, and you cook them just like you cook regular crepes. If you haven’t cooked crepes before, don’t worry, it’s not as hard as it looks.

If you want non-pink crepes, I do have a recipe for regular, healthy buckwheat crepes, just so you know.

In terms of decoration, feel free to just throw any fruits and sprinkles of sorts that you want onto it. It’s actually so much fun to make and incredibly easy. I’d recommend always having banana, unless you (or your mom) don’t like banana. You can come up with your own creations (recommended), or just try to imitate some of the designs that I did:

By the way, did I mention how pretty the edges were? You know how crepes get that pretty, crispy, wavy, almost-lacy kind of edge? Check this out:

#legitcrepes

Anyways, don’t forget to tell your mom how beautiful she is and how much you love her this Sunday, and wake up just a little earlier to make her these crepes and show her how much you care about her. In case anyone was wondering what I’m doing for my mommy this Mother’s Day, I’m making her these pink, beetroot crepes for breakfast, baking her favorite cheesecake, taking her out for lunch, and giving her a watercolor painting of a botanical wreath with the hand-scripted gold quote, “Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever”

Notes: To make the beetroot purée, just stick the beetroots (unpeeled) in a big pot of boiling water until they’re soft, peel them, and purée them in a food processor. It may seem like a lot of work, but you can use it to make all your food pretty and pink, or use it to make beetroot nut butter chocolate cups or beetroot vanilla rice pudding with dark chocolate.

Pink Beetroot Crepes

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup buckwheat flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk of choice
• 4 tbsp (50g) grated/pureed beetroot (preferably cooked)
• Pinch of salt

• Toppings (e.g.):
  • Banana, raspberries, cherries, blueberries, mandarins, kiwi, flaked almond, cacao nibs, melted chocolate, shredded coconut, bee pollen, etc.

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients into a bowl
2. Place a pan over medium heat and spray the pan with cooking oil (or brush on a little coconut oil or butter)
3. Turn the heat down to medium low and spoon 1/3-ish cup of the batter into the center of the pan
4. Lift the pan up using the handle and turn the pan so that the batter spreads evenly into a thin layer
   • Note: If the batter doesn’t spread evenly, or cooks before you can spread it out, turn the heat down a little, or add a little bit of your milk of choice into the batter
5. When the crepe looks dry, flip it over with a spatula and cook briefly on the other side
6. Slide it out onto a plate to cool
7. Repeat with the rest of the batter
8. Serve!

Beetroot Vanilla Rice Pudding with Dark Chocolate (Clean/Cheat)

I love rice.

Being from a Chinese family ensures that I get to eat rice (almost) daily. When I was younger, my parents and grandparents would call me a “fan tong”, which literally translates to “rice bucket”. In other words, I mostly ate rice.

We usually eat rice prepared the traditional way – steamed. Simple. Steamed. Perfect. Sometime’s we’d have it as “zhou” or congee. At restaurants, if pineapple rice was on the menu, we would order it. No questions asked.

My point is, I’ve always loved rice, but for some reason, rice pudding wasn’t really something that I ate. In fact, I’m not really sure if I had ever eaten rice pudding before this recipe. Kinda sad, I know.

 

Whether this was my first experience with rice pudding or not, it definitely left a good impression on me. The rice was simply so creamy. The texture was unlike anything I’d really ever had before. And since I just threw a beetroot recipe at you, I may as well throw you another one.

The rice pudding itself isn’t immensely flavorful. It makes up the texture and the base, and it carries a subtle vanilla sweetness, but that’s where the chocolate comes in. It adds, well, chocolate, which pairs beautifully with the creaminess of the coconut milk and the hint of shredded coconut. I promise that the beet doesn’t affect the flavor at all. It may look like there’s a lot of beet added to make the color, but beet dyes food really easily, and you don’t need much, so you won’t be able to taste it.

Visually, beet and chocolate has got to be one of the most appealing combinations. Pink and chocolate, what’s not to love?

In case anyone was wondering, I considered this recipe to be a clean/cheat recipe, because c’mon, it makes quite a lot of rice pudding and has 1/4 cup sugar, which you could probably replace for honey if you really wanted. I wanted to stick to traditional rice pudding, so I used sugar.

Notes: Feel free to use white chocolate, or any type of chocolate of your choosing. Plus, you might want to use more chocolate, or less. Depends on what you like, 70g is just an approximation. To make the beetroot purée, just stick the beetroots (unpeeled) in a big pot of boiling water until they’re soft, peel them, and purée them in a food processor. It may seem like a lot of work, but you can use it to make all your food pretty and pink, or save it to make beetroot nut butter chocolate cups!

Beetroot Vanilla Rice Pudding with Dark Chocolate (Cheat)

Ingredients:

• 500ml (2 cups) coconut milk
• 250ml (1 cup) + 30ml (2 tbsp) water
• 50g (1/4 cup) sugar
• 200g (1 cup) short-grain rice
• 250g (1 1/2 cups) beetroot purée (see notes)
• 70-100g dark chocolate, melted (see notes)
• Fresh fruit, to garnish (optional)
• Shredded coconut, to garnish (optional)

Method:

1. In a medium saucepan heat the coconut milk, water, sugar, and vanilla over medium heat, until hot but not boiling. Turn off heat.
2. In a large saucepan, heat the rice and oil, and stir them together over medium-low heat
3. Add in 2 tbsp of water into the large saucepan and mix until mostly absorbed
4. Stir in a few tablespoons of the coconut milk mixture and allow the coconut milk to fully absorb before stirring in another few tablespoons, until all of the coconut milk mixture is mixed into the rice and the rice is fully cooked through. This should take 20-30 minutes
5. Stir in the beetroot purée until fully mixed, and remove from heat
6. Serve the rice pudding immediately with melted chocolate, fresh fruit, and shredded coconut

Beetroot Nut Butter Chocolate Cups (Clean)

Oh, dear God.

The frustrations and difficulties and exhaustion people have to deal with these days.

The frustration of writing poetry and having to justify your decisions

The difficulty of memorizing French terms

The exhaustion of learning about polynomials and factoring them without a GDC

The annoyance of having a VPN that constantly quits on you

The struggle of getting home at 6pm, and having to eat dinner, do homework, practice piano, practice violin, Instagram, check emails, reply to emails, leaving no time for rest

The misery of majorly organizing an event without credit

The realization that you’re so tired that you’re sorta writing really bad poetry.

Oh, English.

And so there’s the relief of chocolate, which supposedly makes you happy (according to SCIENCE, guys). That’s where these lil’ beetroot nut butter chocolate cups come in.

Quite frankly, chocolate usually doesn’t require tempering as long as you heat it very, very gently. I mean, c’mon, who wants to deal with all those temperatures and mixing and taking 2/3 of the chocolate out and blah blah blah.

The thing I love about these chocolate cups is that when the chocolate bar is melted and changes form, with a little dollop of beetroot nut butter wedged in the center, the texture changes. It’s difficult to explain, but trust me on this one. The chocolate – although the content doesn’t change much – takes on a completely new satisfaction to the bite. It’s like the difference between eating a really cold chocolate bar that you can bite into and get that gadijp sound, verses eating a warm chocolate bar thats melty and that you don’t really bite into. With these, essentially, you could just shove the entire chocolate cup in your mouth and let it melt (though you won’t be able to speak for a minute or two), but I’d rather bite right through the middle of it and let the chocolate break into it’s naturally thin, beautiful, yet chunky pieces, revealing a gorgeous, hot pink patch of creamy goodness hidden inside.

Yeeesss ❤

I’m writing so much. Can you tell I’m tired? I went swimming. We did hypox. Don’t blame me.

Oh and hang in here for just another second…or not. You can just skip to the recipe now if you want, but there’s something I need to talk about. Something non-food related (unless you count Zack Merrick as being ketchup idk). Imma do an album rating thing, just because.

ALL TIME LOW’S NEW ALBUM IS AMAZING. It’s called Future Hearts. If you guys haven’t heard it – go listen to it now. I don’t care what you “usually” listen to. Heavy metal, k-pop, alternative, country – just go listen to it.

The entire album is preetty perfect. Imma talk about what I think just because I have nothing better to do and I need text to balance out the large number of photos (jk that’s just an excuse).

1. Satellites – Something really different from ATL’s usual stuff. I don’t mind. I found the line “Wishing on a star that’s just a satellite” to be kinda sad though. Like, you’re wishing on something that’s believed to be magical and natural and mysterious and far away, and in reality, it’s just an artificial, man-made imitation of stars. I like the song tho
2. Kicking & Screaming – There’s a proper scream in this one. ‘Nuf said.
3. Something’s Gotta Give – I will admit that the music video scared me. I won’t talk spoilers. Well, I won’t talk about music-video spoilers, but I can say that omFG THE FINAL NOTE OF THE SONG MADE ME DIEE.
4. Kids In The Dark: Holy moly I love this song so much. “Beautiful scars on critical veins. Come together. State of the art. We’ll never surrender. The kids in the dark.” Plus, the music video’s preetty cool tho and ALEX LOOKS HOT AF.
5. Runaways: Another favorite. Okay, this one’s really good. I mean, I know that I said the same thing about all of them, but I really love this one.
6. Missing You: Aw man this one’s beautiful. It’s one of those songs where you feel like the lead singer is holding you close and that everything will be okay and listening to it makes you feel like you’re getting the biggest, warmest hug ever from Baymax.
7. Cinderblock Garden: I love the intro a lot but tbh it’s not my fav song (sorry guys)
8. Tidal Waves: OH MY GOD NO WORDS C’MON MARK HOPPUS IS IN IT! NEED I SAY MORE? MARK HOPPUS! IT’S GORGEOUS AND LISTENING TO IT MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE BEING CARRIED AWAY BY TIDAL WAVES AND IT’S WONDERFUL.
9. Don’t You Go: I’m obsessed with the way Alex sings the line “Don’t you go”. There’s just so much force and emotion. Agreed? Agreed.
10. Bail Me Out: Kay Joel Madden sings in this song and there’s definitely that Good Charlotte influence, so his voice fits in perfectly. I know that the lyrics aren’t necessarily super happy and stuff, but the song makes me want to do that thing where you nod your head from side to side and tap your feet and makes you happy?
11. Dancing With A Wolf: Oh my god. There’s so much sass and attitude in this one, which I think is awesome considering Alex Gaskarth has that sass and attitude. It’s definitely going into my workout playlist. I’m listening to it right now and suddenly I’m not even tired anymore. Please listen to this.
12. The Edge of Tonight: LISTEN TO IT LISTEN TO IT! I BEG YOU THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SONG EVER I MIGHT EVEN LIKE IT BETTER THAN THERAPY. IT MIGHT BE MY FAVORITE ALL TIME LOW SONG – EVER. THAT’S SAYING A LOT!!!! I BEG YOU TO CLICK ON THAT LINK AND PLUG IN EARPHONES AND LISTEN TO IT. I LOVE IT SO MUCH IT’S BEAUTIFUL AND THE MELODY IS GORGEOUS AND I CAAAN’T
13. Old Scars/Future Hearts: I thought this song would be better, since the whole album is titled Future Hearts. I absolutely adore the bridge, “We got scars on our future hearts, but we never looked back, no we never looked back.” It’s a good song though.

Back to these things.

You will end up with leftover beetroot nut butter, but I think that’s kinda a good thing. I’ve been using it on everything. I add it onto my oatmeal, I spread it on bread or rice cakes… It’s like any other nut butter, but with a girly makeover.

Notes: I apologize for using both weight and volume in the ingredients list. Anyways, for the beetroot, you can just stick the whole thing (unpeeled) in a pot of boiling water for 20-40 minutes (depending on size) until it’s tender. Then, you can purée it in the food processor, remove the purée and place it in a bowl, and then use the food processor for the cashews (in the recipe). Less clean-up! Also, make sure to melt the chocolate in a double-boiler, or in the microwave at short 10-second intervals, stirring in between and stopping when 80-90% of the chocolate has melted and there’s still a few chunks, allowing the rest to melt from residual heat.

Beetroot Nut Butter Chocolate Cups

Makes 8 chocolate cups

Ingredients:

• 200g cashews (or other light-colored nut. e.g. peeled almonds)
• 3 tbsp beetroot, cooked and puréed
• 250g chocolate, melted
• 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• Shredded coconut (optional, for garnish)
• Cacao nibs (optional, for garnish)

Method:

1. In a food processor or strong blender, blend the cashews until they form into a thick paste, scraping the sides down as necessary. This may take anywhere from 5-20 minutes depending on the strength of your food processor.
2. Add the beetroot purée into the food processor and process until fully combined
3. Transfer the beetroot nut butter into a jar and store in refrigerator until ready to use (You can use it as regular cashew/peanut/almond butter)
4. In a medium bowl, stir together the chocolate and coconut oil until combined
5. Spoon approximately a tablespoon of the chocolate onto the bottom of a muffin tin lined with paper liners, or into metal cupcake liner/mold things
6. Place the liners in the refrigerator until they set (5-10 minutes)
7. Remove the liners from the refrigerator and spoon a teaspoon of beetroot nut butter onto the center of each one. Use a wet spoon or a wet finger to press it down into a small disk in the center of the chocolate.
8. Spoon more chocolate over the beetroot nut butter until the nut butter is completely hidden by the chocolate. Sprinkle some shredded coconut and/or cacao nibs on top and repeat with the rest of the liners
9. Place in refrigerator until completely hardened, and store these in the refrigerator