Even Lucy Tweed admits she goes below the belt when trying to get an ingredient across the line – by pairing it with chocolate. Her latest victory … beetroot.
By Lucy Tweed
I have this urge to hide loathed ingredients in recipes and feed them to my family, who in turn LOVE it. It really fills my cup, you know, winning that kind of war.
So many of us have grown up being forced to eat things we don’t like and threatened with blindness and our arms falling off if we don’t. This way I feel like we all win.
The target was my husband and his beet disgust. He ate this with glee.
And while I personally don’t think this is the BEST way to enjoy the earthy sweetness of the beautiful betanin-filled root, it does prove a point: everyone/thing can be delicious with the right wingman.
Makes 6 whopping whoopie pies
Ingredients
BEETROOT JAM
1 large beetroot, leaves trimmed and skin on
¼ cup (55 g) caster (superfine) sugar
FILLING
1 cup (230 g) cream cheese
½ cup (60 g) icing (confectioners’) sugar
PIES
½ cup (125 g) cold unsalted butter, coarsely chopped
1 cup (220 g) firmly packed so brown sugar
1 large cold egg
1½ cups (220 g) plain (all-purpose) flour
½ cup (40 g) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
½ teaspoon bicarbonate (baking) soda
pinch of fine salt
1½ cups (225 g) dark chocolate, chopped, and/or choc chips, or a mix of dark and milk chocolate
OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS
a dislike for beetroot
Method
- To make the beetroot jam, steam the beetroot for 20-30 minutes until tender. It should be easily pierced with a sharp knife when done. Allow it to cool, then peel and blitz in a food processor.
- In a small saucepan over medium– high heat, bring ½ cup (125 ml) of the beetroot purée and the caster sugar to the boil, stirring. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2–3 minutes, until reduced by half. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. This makes ¼ cup (60 ml) of beetroot jam. Set aside.*
- For the filling, in the bowl of a standmixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and icing sugar on medium–high for 3 minutes, until smooth. Place this into a piping bag and into the fridge ready to go.
- Now the pies. In the standmixer again, cream the butter and sugar on low for 8 minutes, until pale and creamy. Add the egg and beat until just combined. Add the flour, cocoa, bicarb soda, salt and half of the beetroot jam. Beat on low speed until a so. cookie dough forms, around 5 minutes.
- Add the chunks of chocolate and stir well. I did this by hand so the beater didn’t break up the chunks too much.
- Divide the dough into six pieces, roughly 150 g (5½ oz) each. Divide each piece into two pieces: 2/3 for the base, 1/3 for the top.
- Use your fingers to mould each base into an 11 cm (4¼ inch) patty. Create a slight indent in the base with a 1 cm (½ inch) rim to hold the cream cheese and jam, then mould each top piece into a slightly smaller, 9.5 cm (3½ inch), lid.
- Pipe 1 tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture onto the centre of the bases, then dollop 1 teaspoon of beetroot jam on top. Place the lids on the whoopie pies and squish the sides of the bases up to join together with the lids to completely enclose the cream cheese and jam. You may need to sculpt them a bit to shape them back into cookies.
- Place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper and freeze for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) fan-forced.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Rest for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Break open. Eat. Burn mouth.
* Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 1 week.
Images and text from Every Night of the Week Veg by Lucy Tweed, photography by Lucy Tweed. Murdoch Books RRP $39.99.
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