Cocoa Beet Chocolate Chip Muffins (#MuffinMonday)

Shredded beets combined with cocoa powder and chocolate chips in a buttermilk-soaked oatmeal muffin. Farm share beets become a sweet treat!

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This recipe is a fine example of how I put up my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) vegetables during the season to feed my family all year long. I've fixed these muffins for folks to enjoy at the first CSA pick up of the season as well as in the middle of winter for a pink Valentine's day treat.

I'm sharing them now because beets are one of the handful of items still left in my freezer, and because my half bath is painted a vibrant color--although not as vibrant as these beets. The swatch said Sun-kissed Apricot but we've renamed it Nuclear Sun-kissed Apricot. With the light on and the door open in the half bath an orange glow covers the foyer.  It's creepily bright.

We found the mirror at an antique store--it's narrow, like the pedestal sink it sits above.

Back to muffins--I want to get this up this Muffin Monday because I've got Oatmeal Orange Beet Blender Muffins, Fresh Cherry Muffins with Roasted Beets, and Chocolate Beet Crinkle Cookies waiting in the wings.  My Beet Recipes Collection expands! This collection is part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store. That's the reason I started the blog--to provide a resource for how to eat your farm share produce. I hope you enjoy!

I'm sharing more recipes on my Pinterest boards, follow me there. If you like a good peek behind the scenes like I do, follow me on Instagram. Need a good read? I'm sharing articles of interest on my Facebook page, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Cocoa Beet Chocolate Chip Muffins
By Kirsten Madaus

Shredded beets combined with cocoa powder and chocolate chips in a buttermilk-soaked oatmeal muffin. Farm share beets become a sweet treat! Prep time includes a hands off hour of soaking the oats in buttermilk.

Prep time: 01:05
Cook time: 00:15
Total time: 01:20

Yield: 2½ to 3 dozen mini muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk
½ cup finely shredded raw beets
1 egg
1/4 cup (60 ml) vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons Penzey's Dutch High Fat Cocoa Powder (or the cocoa powder of your choice)
1/2 teaspoon Penzey's Baking Spice (or a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, mace and happiness?)
1 cup (4 oz by weight) whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (I'm using kosher)
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions:

In a large bowl, mix oats, buttermilk, and beets.  Set aside for at least an hour, up to overnight while the beets dye the oats a very shocking pink (See NOTE below). If you don't have a fine shredder like I do on my food processor, consider giving the oat/buttermilk/beet mixture a whirl in a blender or food processor to incorporate the beet particles.

When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and spray a 24 well mini-muffin pan with oil (or line with cupcake papers).  Add egg, oil, vanilla and brown sugar to the bowl.  Mix thoroughly.  Dump dry ingredients on top (cocoa through salt) mix until nearly combined, then add chocolate chips and mix until just combined.

Scoop** batter into prepared pan.  You should get about 32-36 mini-muffins.

Bake 12-15 minutes for the mini-muffins.  Cool in pan 5 minutes, then finish cooling on a rack.

**For mini size muffins, my scoop holds 1 Tablespoon (½ ounce) by volume, though the muffin batter is mounded in the scoop so it's a wee bit more.

NOTE:  If you like, you can prep a batch (or three) of oats and buttermilk a few days in advance, and store in the fridge.

Behind the scenes--yeah, with a Screaming Yellow kitchen I shouldn't complain about a Nuclear Orange half bath.

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.
Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

• Bouchon Bakery Style Carrot Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Cocoa Beet Chocolate Chip Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts
• Lucky Charms Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Morning Glory Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Rice Cereal Apple Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Strawberry and Chocolate Muffin Hearts from Sew You Think You Can Cook