Chocolate Beet Brownie Cups
From the Cookbook
Makes 12
Deep, earthy, slightly sweet beetroot pairs surprisingly well with rich, slightly bitter dark chocolate. And, as always, hiding veg in a pud this delicious is always a thrill. The crucial thing here is to fold the beaten egg whites carefully into the melted chocolate mixture, rather than simply stirring them together, which would knock the air out and undo all of your good work.
Serves:
12 brownie cupsEquipment:
- 1 × 12-hole muffin tin
Ingredients
200g cooked, peeled beetroot
200g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids), broken into squares
100g unsalted butter, diced, plus a little extra for greasing
4 tablespoons cocoa powder (or 2 tablespoons if using paper muffin cases), sifted, plus extra to decorate
3 eggs, separated
100g caster sugar
Grated zest of 1 unwaxed orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Cream or ice cream, to serve
Method
- 1
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas Mark 4.
- 2
Grease the muffin tin with butter and dust with 2 tablespoons of the cocoa powder, or line with paper muffin cases.
- 3
Grate the beetroot finely on a box grater. Transfer the grated beetroot to a sieve over the sink and leave to drain.
- 4
Place the chocolate with the butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water, and stir occasionally until it is almost all melted; the remainder will melt in the residual heat. Set aside to cool.
- 5
Whisk the egg whites and sugar together in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a large mixing bowl with an electric whisk until bright white, glossy and forming stiff peaks. This should take you about 5 minutes in the stand mixer, longer with a hand whisk.
- 6
Beat the egg yolks into the cooled chocolate mixture with the drained beetroot until combined, then add a spoonful of the whisked egg whites to the chocolate bowl and fold in gently (don’t beat!) until fully incorporated. Add the remaining whisked egg whites to the chocolate mixture and gently fold in again until no white bits are visible. Finally, fold in the remaining 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder, the orange zest, vanilla extract and salt.
- 7
Pour the mixture into the muffin holes and stand the muffin tin in a deep roasting tin. Fill a kettle with water and bring to the boil, then pour the boiling water around the muffin tin until it comes halfway up the sides.
- 8
Bake the muffins for 30 minutes until cracked on top but with a bit of wobble in the middle. Remove from the oven and lift the muffin tin out of the roasting tin, then leave the muffins to cool in the tin for a couple of minutes before lifting them out with a spatula and serving warm with a dollop of cream or ice cream on the side and a sprinkling of cocoa powder to decorate.
A PIE FOR YOUR THOUGHTS
Tell us what you think of this product and we’ll put your name in the hat to win Higgidy goodies.