I am back!!! My muse is finally back and again I am enjoying cooking as much as before.

It is again school time and moreover our second son also started going to the pre-school, that is why my muse is concentrated mainly on the lunch-boxes’ content. Well, don’t be surprised that the shape of many dishes are lunch-box friendly.

It is already few days I was thinking about combination of beetroot and dates. Somehow I thought it could be a really good marriage. And IT IS!!!

The muffins taste amazing. My husband and kids ate them with a pleasure. Beetroot and dates muffins are not too sweet as I use only 1/8 cup of sugar for 12 muffins. But the sweetness coming from dates and ripe banana are more than enough.

For muffins personally I prefer mixing different types of flour. It is not the matter of any “healthy” approach, but just my taste preferences. For example, whole grain spelt flour gives some extra texture (like adding some seeds), at the same time coconut flour makes the muffins more fluffy with a delicate aroma of coconut.

But please, don’t limit yourself: you can use only wheat white one if you like or add more different type keeping the ingredients’ proportions in frames.

Beetroot and dates muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe banana
• 10 dates
• 1 medium sized beetroot
• 100 g plain Greek yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 1/8 cup sugar
• Vanilla sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup whole grain spelt flour
• 1/2 cup wheat white flour
• 2 tbsp coconut flour
• 1/8 cup rapeseed oil
• A pinch of salt
• Zest of 1 orange

Cooking method:

1. To prepare the beetroot for boiling, cut off the green leaves . Wash well. Boil in lightly salted water until tender, for 30 min to 1 1/2 hours. Drain, cool, then trim and perl off the skin. Grate on the star-blade grater.
2. Preheat the oven to 200C. Line the muffin tin with paper muffin cases. (You can also use silicone muffin cases).
3. Remove the stone from the dates, cut finely.
4. Mash banana by fork.
5. Mix the next wet ingredients: beetroot, banana, dates, yogurt, orange zest and eggs with sugar and vanilla sugar.
6. Put all dry ingredients in the big bowl (flour, baking powder, salt).
7. Add the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined, but don’t over-mix or the muffins will be heavy. At the end of mixing stir in rapeseed oil.
8. Lightly oil the muffin cases. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cases and bake for 20-25 min, or until risen and golden. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then serve warm or leave to cool.

VARIATION:

Berries

Use different berries in place of banana and lemon zest instead of the orange.