Who would say no to super gooey and moist chocolate brownies? Especially when they’re filled with healthy ingredients such as beetroots and olive oil.

Here’s a list of things that inspired me to make these super yummy little babies.

The colour pink. Somehow, I always thought that beetroots and roses had to meet at some point so my blog will look all cute and pretty. But seriously, I really do think that these two ingredients work wonderfully together.
Saykook. Saykook is the weirdest way – but still very yummy way – my mum and her sisters used to recycle couscous. Let me explain. You know couscous day is on Friday in Morocco. So very often, on Fridays there’s a lot of plain couscous left and my mom and her sisters love to eat it with buttermilk, beetroot juice and sugar. I don’t know if this is a traditional Moroccan desert because I’ve never seen or met anyone else who eats it, but that’s how they call it. Saykook for me is the Moroccan way of making desert out of beetroots and couscous,
My love for all things chocolaty!

So the other day, I was craving chocolate and when I realised that I hadn’t made brownies for a while I decided it was time to make desert out of the beets sitting in my fridge.

Enjoy!

Beetroot, Chocolate and Rose Brownies (Gluten and Dairy Free)

INGREDIENTS

Makes 16 squares

200g dark chocolate, chopped
300g cooked beetroot, drained and chopped
3 eggs
60ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
2 ½ teaspoons rose water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250g light brown sugar
150g ground almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
Dried edible rose petals for decoration, if desired

METHODS

• Preheat the oven to 200 C (400 F)

• Line a 23 cm (9 inch) square baking tin with baking paper and set aside.

• In a microwave safe bowl, place the chocolate, stopping and stirring at 15 second intervals, until smooth. Set aside for a few minutes.

• Transfer the beetroot into a food processor and process until you obtain a smooth puree consistency.

• In a large bowl, place the pureed beetroots, chocolate, eggs, olive oil, rose water, vanilla extract and mix all the ingredients together until smooth.

• In a medium sized bowl, mix the sugar, ground almond and baking soda. Transfer this dry mixture into the wet mixture and combine all the ingredients together until smooth.

• Transfer the brownie mixture into the lined baking tin and place in the warm oven for 30 to 35 minutes until the top of the brownie feels spongy to the fingertips. When inserted in the middle of the cake, a skewer should come out a little bit moist.

• Once baked, remove from the oven and leave until the brownies are completely cold before removing them from the tin. Once cooled, remove from the tin and cut into 16 squares. Decorate with dried edible rose petals if desired.

Notes

• Recipe adapted from www.lovebeetroot.co.uk.

• Directions to cook the beetroots: wash the beetroots and place in a pan of warm water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to medium and cover with a lid for 25 minutes until tender. Once cooked, drain over cold water and once the beets are cool enough to handle, peel them. Using rubber gloves to peel them will prevent your fingers from staining red.