With the beets I have left, I made my savory dish. The Borscht was AMAZING. Now I am trying out something sweet. I found out you can make brownies with this red root vegetable. I’m all for that. I am starting with a recipe from Vegaterianized for their Dark Chocolate Beet Brownies. They describe them as more of a red velvet cake style. I can see that. No red food coloring but the lovely red hue from the beets. And, who doesn’t love brownies. Another way to use a vegetable that I’m not too fond of in a recipe I love. I can also make these low carb and less saturated fat with a few simple swaps.

Here are the original stats:

Here’s what I changed:

• I swapped out half the butter with unsweetened applesauce to reduce the saturated fat and calories.
• I swapped out the sugar for their sweetener equivalent to lower the sugar.
• I swapped out the regular chocolate chips with Lily’s Dark Chocolate Chips to reduce the sugar.
• I swapped the flour with almond flour and added 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum to make these low carb and hold together.

Here are the final stats:

Here is the final recipe:

Low Carb Dark Chocolate Beet Brownies

Serves 24

• 8 oz raw beets, peeled and halved (do not use canned)
• 4 oz unsalted butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• ¾ cup brown sugar substitute
• ¾ cup granulated sweetener
• 4 eggs
• 1 ¼ cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract, not imitation
• ¾ cup almond flour
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 cup sugar free dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a small pot, add beets and cover with water. Heat over medium heat and cook 20-25 minutes until very soft. Drain, puree and set aside to cool. 
3. In a medium pot over low heat, melt butter. Turn heat to medium-low and add both sugars. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, about 2-3 minutes and remove from heat.  Stir in applesauce
4. Beat the eggs on medium with a mixer for about 2 minutes. Add cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and vanilla extract and incorporate well.
5. Add pureed beets and butter-sugar mixture and mix well. On low speed, add almond flour and then chocolate chips, scraping the sides as needed.
6. Spray a 9 x 13 pan generously with cooking spray, add batter and bake 30 minutes until knife comes out clean or with just a few crumbles. Cool in the pan before turning out on to a cooling rack. Enjoy warm!