Sweet Beet Muffins

This is not story of a wolf in sheep's clothing.  You may know from one of my previous posts that I have tried several different recipes for beets in an attempt to convince myself I could like them, however I continuously found that I simply did not.  My dilemma this week was looking at the three beets from previous Farm Share boxes staring at me in the refrigerator and wanting to cook them, but dreading the  process of doing so.  

One morning, on my walk to the T, I was reminded of my favorite coffee shop in Nashville (Fido in Hillsboro Village, love!) and the creative, delicious muffins they had.  It was then I was struck with an "ah-ha!" moment--beet muffins!  Fido had a beet muffin at one time that their baker was experimenting with--I tried it and liked it, a big moment for me.  Hence how I became inspired to turn these beets that were staring me down into a delicious baked good.

These turned out really well, and I used all the beets we had left!  In addition to the beets from our Farm Share, I used some of the barley flour we received in our Farm Share this week.

Enjoy!

Sweet Beet Muffins
(Recipe adapted from a post on this blog)

Ingredients
1 c. beets
1 c. whole wheat flour (I used 1/2 c. whole wheat flour and 1/2 c. barley flour)
1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 c. + 2 tbs. brown sugar
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. soy milk
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350.  Roast beets in oven (wrap washed beets in foil and place on middle rack, 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes, or until soft).  Once beets are cooled, peel and shred (you can use a food processor to chop or cheese grater to grate beets).  Mix all dry and wet ingredients separately, then combine, folding beet mixture into the dry ingredients.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from center of muffin.

After beets were roasted and peeled, I used my mini food processor to chop the beets.

The beets before adding the wet ingredients.  They really are gorgeous vegetables.

Vibrant purple batter!

The finished product.