Beetroot Desserts

Beetroot lollipop with fizzy sherbert powder, beetroot chocolate brownie with beetroot ice cream, beetroot & chocolate macaron

Sorry guys, no Daring Baker's challenge from me this month. One reason is because I've been super busy experimenting in the kitchen in preparation for The Food Blogger's Battle Royale Cook off! Which was as much fun as it sounds, believe me. My challenge was to come up with some sort of crazy dessert that incorporated some form of vegetable in the dish. So I was basically shitting myself, knowing what amazing cooks and bakers the other bloggers are, I knew they would come up with something mind-blowing. My main aim was to make something that wasn't inedible. And it had to be fun!

So what did I come up with? After a week of experimenting, burning, hair-pulling, screaming, breaking and spilling I ended up with this: a trio of beetroot. Basically a beetroot tasting plate, which included: a beetroot & chocolate macaron; beetroot chocolate brownie with beetroot ice cream; and a beetroot lollipop with fizzy sherbert powder. I immediately prayed that no one at the party had an intense hatred of beetroot.

I decided nearly straight away that I wanted to do a hard candy lollipop, no matter what vegetable I was using. I've been obsessed with making hard candy recently, and was excited to try it after getting my hands on a bottle of light corn syrup. Yeah yeah, I know corn syrup is terribly unhealthy, but I've never used it before and it's not the same without it in a lollipop. And I had to do the fizzy sherbert powder with it, because I've always loved how fun it is to dip a lollipop into that tingly, fizzy powder that will lead to a HUGE sugar high.

The main reason I ended up choosing beetroot was because of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. I've always been intrigued by the idea of using beetroot in a dessert ever since I saw an episode of River Cottage where he used it in about 5 different desserts. And though I wasn't convinced the flavour of beetroot necessarily belonged in a sweet dish, I was in love with the gorgeous colour it would make everything. In particular, the colour of my beetroot ice cream made me clap my hands with glee.

Yes the ice cream was unmistakably beetroot. There was the intense colour and an equally intense flavour from the pureed beetroot. I roasted my beetroot until it was super tender in the hopes that it would lessen the strong, earthy flavour and help sweeten it, but even then I found the flavour in the ice cream a little bit much for me. But in small amounts, I think it worked well with the fudgy, crisp-topped brownie. The brownie only had a very subtle flavour from the beetroot but it did give it a nice red tinge, almost like a red velvet cake, and it stayed nice, moist and crumbly. I did have some disasters with the ice cream, since I don't have a machine, so it was frozen in a container and taken out to be churned though my food processor many times. Somehow it turned out surprisingly smooth (I think mostly thanks to the cream and glucose) and freakishly held its shape after being spooned on top of the brownie, which was unsettling...but great for photos!

But I think my favourite part, and the most fun element of the dish was definitely the lollipop with the sherbert powder. The lollipop itself didn't taste much of beetroot (which may have been a good thing), so I added a little sploge of beetroot puree underneath. It took about three attempts to get the lollipops right, since I had a lot of issues with the candy caramelising and tasting of burnt toffee. But miraculously, my final batch worked well, and my favourite $2 IKEA heart shaped silicon ice cube trays worked perfectly as candy moulds! The fizzy sherbert powder was surprisingly easy to make and brought back many childhood memories :)

I had my usual dramas with the macarons. It was my first time trying out chocolate shells, which inevitably led to a batch of failed macarons with no feet (which I then forgot about and set fire to, which set off the smoke alarm late at night, oops). The ones I ended up with were a little undercooked but had okay feet. I had trouble figuring out how to make the ganache beetrooty, but ended up going with a white chocolate ganache and added some beetroot puree. Unfortunately the white chocolate was a little overpowering so you couldn't tell it was beetroot except for the colour, and I think the mixture may have split in the fridge, but hopefully it wasn't too obvious in the finished macarons. So does beetroot work well in a dessert? Wellll, I guess in the context of our cook-off challenge it was okay but I don't think I would eat the ice cream on its own. Perhaps the ice cream might work well in some sort of savoury dish? But the brownie was pretty tasty, if I didn't see the beetroot go into the mixture I might not have guessed it and I can't stop eating the lollipops! UGHH anyway, I'm sorry this post is SOO long, I don't blame you if you have a tl;dr moment. But for anyone who is curious about the recipes, here you go:

Cooking the beetroot: In all the recipes below, I prepared by beetroot by chopping the stalks about 1 cm from the base and then washing, drying and wrapping them in foil. I then placed them in a 180 degrees C oven for two hours, roasting them until they were tender and sweet. The easiest way to peel them is to take them straight out of the oven, carefully unwrap and then peel the skin off under cold running water. This is usually my favourite, easy way to cook beetroot for any salads or to serve with other roasted veges :) For anything that required puree I pulsed it for AGES in my food processor, stirring it with a spatula every now and then so it was super smooth. I figured a chunky beetroot puree might freak people just a little too much in a dessert.

Part 1: Beetroot Lollipops with Fizzy Sherbert Powder
(makes approximately 24 lollipops)
1 medium beetroot, roasted, peeled and grated
2 cups caster sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
2 cups bottled apple juice
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
Hard candy moulds or silicone ice cube trays + lollipop sticks

Icing sugar
Citric acid
Bicarb soda

(Note: if you are keen to try other flavoured lollipops, simply replace beetroot and apple juice with 1 cup water and whatever flavour you want, oil based flavours work better I've heard)

Place grated beetroot in a small saucepan and boil on medium heat with apple juice until it reduces and is heavily coloured with beetroot juice, about half an hour. Strain liquid, you need enough to make 1 cup of liquid. If not, top up with cold water to make 1 cup. Place beetroot juice, caster sugar, corn syrup and cream of tartar in a medium saucepan with a candy thermometer. Stir with a silicon spatula, on high heat until the sugar dissolves. After this, try not to stir it anymore as this can cause sugar crystals to form. Allow it to bubble, until it reaches the hard crack stage at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).

I found mine started to burn before it reached 300 degrees F so as it got close to that temp I was stirring up the sugar at the bottom of the saucepan with my spatula. You will know it is at the right stage as a small amount of syrup dropped into a cold glass of water will harden immediately. As soon as it reaches the right temperature, remove from the heat and pour straight into your candy molds. Allow to cool for a minute and then place the lollipop sticks into the middle (if you are using ice cube trays).

To make the fizzy sherbert powder, ensure all your surfaces and hands are dry, as any moisture will ruin the powder. Sift icing sugar and stir in citric acid and bicarb soda. It is hard for me to give exact measurements as I did it to taste, but I would say it was about 1 cup icing sugar, 1 tsp citrus acid and 1.5 tsp bicarb soda.

Part 2: Beetroot Chocolate Brownies with Beetroot Ice Cream
(adapted from River Cottage recipes, serves approx 24 people)
For the brownies:
250g beetroot, roasted until tender, peeled and pureed
250g caster sugar
250g unsalted butter
250g good quality dark chocolate
150g self raising flour
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and grease and line a 17cm x 27cm brownie tin. Melt chocolate and butter together in a bowl (the bowl of sin!), either in a warming oven or over a double boiler, or the lazy way in a microwave at 1 minute at a time. Stir until combined and set aside to cool. Whisk eggs and sugar together until smooth, then gradually whisk in chocolate mixture, until smooth. Gently fold in flour, followed by the beetroot puree. Take care not to overmix or brownie will be tough. Pour into tin and bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out with some moist crumbs attached. Remove from oven and cool inside the tin on a wire rack and then cut into squares. It is better to undercook them as they will cook slightly more while cooling in the tin.

For the ice cream:
6 large egg yolks
250ml milk
250ml double cream
2-3 medium beetroots, roasted until tender, peeled and pureed
75g caster sugar
1 tbsp glucose syrup

Beat egg yolks and sugar together until smooth. Heat milk in a pan until nearly boiling then remove from the heat, leave to cool slightly and then gradually whisk in the egg yolk mixture.

Pour mixture into a pan and heat gently, constantly stirring until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Do not let it get too hot or it will split. Remove from the heat, dissolve the glucose syrup into the warm custard and strain through a sieve, then allow to cool. Chill in the fridge, covered with a piece of greaseproof paper to prevent a skin from forming.

When cold, stir in beetroot puree and cream. Pass through a fine sieve. Churn in an ice cream maker, or if you dont have one, freeze in a freezer safe container and take out every few hours and churn in your food processor. I did this about three times on the day and then once the day before serving.

Part 3: Chocolate Macarons with Beetroot & White Chocolate Ganache
(adapted from Tartelette's macaron recipe, makes about 22 regular sized macarons)
110g almond meal, dried in a cool oven for 10 minutes and sifted
1 tsp egg white powder (optional)
100g aged egg whites (you can use fresh eggs too, just make sure they are room temperature. I always use fresh these days, and zap it in the microwave on defrost for 10 seconds)
50g sugar
200g icing sugar (minus 5 tsp icing sugar)
5 tsp cocoa powder, sifted + extra for dusting

110g white chocolate
1 tbsp beetroot puree
50 ml pouring cream

Place icing sugar in your food processor and process to remove any lumps. Add almond meal and pulse a few times, stirring every now and then with a spatula until the mixture is combined. Take care to not over process. Place in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Beat eggwhites and egg white powder in a medium mixing bowl to soft peaks, then beat on high speed while gradually adding sugar, and beat until stiff peaks form. Do not overmix or macarons will be dry. Add meringue to the dry mixture, and mix in, quickly at first to beat out the air bubbles from the meringue. Take care not to over mix, the mixture should flow like lava and a small streak of mixture on the surface should disappear after a minute. Place in a piping bag with a plain tip and pipe 3cm rounds on two lined baking trays. Bang trays lightly on benchtop to remove any bubbles from mixture. Dust tops of shells with cocoa powder.

Preheat your oven to 140 degrees C and leave trays to dry out for about an hour, so the surface of the macarons does not break when you lightly touch it with a fingertip. Bake for about 15-18 minutes, placing tray on an overturned roasting tray if they are not professional grade. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on tray for 5 minutes. Carefully peel shells from baking paper and cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the ganache, heat cream in a small saucepan until it just boils and remove from the heat and cool for 5 minutes. Add chopped white chocolate and set aside for 5 minutes to melt. Mix mixture until smooth using a whisk and cool completely. Fold in beetroot puree, you can adjust the amount of puree to your taste.

If it is not thick enough to be spooned onto shells, chill for 10 minutes in the fridge. Spoon or pipe about 1 tsp of mixture onto a shell and sandwich with another shell. Refrigerate macarons overnight and then serve at room temperature.

So my kitchen ended up covered in splattered beetroot stains, my hands were a very beety pink colour for the last couple of days, and I don't think me & A can look at another beetroot for a long time. But it was so much fun, and I ended up learning some new techniques (first time making ice cream and hard candy, yeah!), and hopefully I didn't gross anyone out too much. Thanks to Billy, Ellie and Linda for organising such a fun, exciting night and to Ellie for being such a lovely, gracious host. It was pretty inspiring seeing what everyone came up with, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Dear Linda, your onion pannacotta is still blowing my mind! It definitely proved to me I would SUCK on Masterchef, I was stressing out even though all my things were pretty much ready to be plated when I showed up that night! If you are interested in reading more about the cook-off you can check it out here, here, here, here, here and here.