“I don’t like beets”! That was my darling son’s response when I told him I had made Sweet Beet Cookies. I thought sandwiching the word beet between sweet and cookie would serve as sufficient enough distraction for Kenya. Not so much. And since I never want to trick my kids into eating foods that are good for them and hope they learn to love them on their own, simply calling this recipe something like Red Cookies was out of the question.
But if the name itself wasn’t a selling point, the site of these cookies was. As soon as Kenya actually saw them, his eyes lit up. “They’re beautiful,” he said. “I love beets!” As Kenya will now attest, not only are these cookies gorgeous, perfectly sweet and super crunchy, they’re also packed with folates and vitamin C. They’re the kind of treats that make everyone happy. Beet that!
Sweet Beet Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup raw beets, shredded fine*
- 2 tablespoons oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F degrees.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
- Using your hands, add the shredded beets to the flour mixture and toss to coat.
- Add the oil and work with your hands to bring the dough together (the salt and sugar will fall to the bottom of the bowl so make sure you knead the dough well to combine everything — the outcome will be a smooth dough).
- Form the smooth, sweet beet dough into a flat disk and roll it out to 1/2 inch thick on parchment paper or a dry clean surface.
- Using a knife, cut the dough into squares or use small cookie cutters to cut out shapes.
- Bake on a Silpat or parchment-lined cookie sheet for 15-17 minutes.
- *You can only use RAW fine shredded beets for this recipe. Using canned beets will not work because of the thickness of the beets and they are already cooked.
I just made these and, much to my shock, they were a hit with my two year old! She helped me cut them into fun shapes and was so excited to eat them!
The recipe does make a fairly small ball of dough and my dough was pretty elastic so it was hard to keep it stretched out to 1/2″ thick long enough to cut it, so I didn’t get a ton of cookies from the recipe, but it would be easy peasy to double it.
When I was mixing my dough, I started to think I wasn’t ever going to get it to come together as more than a crumbly mess, but I ended up squeezing handfuls of it at a time to get the beets to give up a little moisture and then it was easy to get it into a big ball. Thanks for the recipe. I’m thrilled to have another vegetable I can put on my “My Kid Will Eat This” list!
Thanks for the recipe! My beet cookies came out great, can’t wait to make some more before the holidays. I used melted coconut oil as my oil of choice, and changed nothing else. Might try adding peppermint next time.
I love this recipe.. My cookies turned out perfect.. I juiced beets & apples first. Then put the pulp into my vitamix. i used canola oil b/c thats what I had..
I had been wanting to try these for so long but didn’t want to use the wheat flour for my baby. I recently have been using buckwheat flour as a GF option for the family so I thought I’d give it a go … it works!
Just sub 1/1 buckwheat flour for the wheat flour and add an egg. I added an egg because the buckwheat tends to be a finer, heavier flour and I needed moisture. All my kids love them! I’ll be making these again 🙂
Delicious and Hilarious Recipe – All enjoyed the cookies including my daughter. All the adults though oddly enough hesitantly tried them and said they don’t like beets but they like these cookies. Thanks!
Made these today with my 3 year old. We had a blast making them and they turned out delicious! Used coconut oil for the oil. Did have to knead quite a bit but then dough came together nicely; very moist. Can’t imagine I could have gotten 50 cookies out of this but we cut ours into shapes. Almost ate them all in one day! My daughter started out today screaming at me “I hate beets!” After just one cookie “I like beets!” Thank you!!!
I had a very different outcome for the dough. It was super gooey in texture, stuck to my fingers, parchment and i couldnt get it to thicken into a pastey dough. I couldnt shape it at all. The “cookie” had a rough crunchy exterior and a soft chewy bread-like interior. This is the same for the apple-cinnamon sticks and it baffles me! I grated the beets following your measurement using a pyrex cup. The taste is awesome though and my toddler loves them but Please tell me what could have gone wrong with my dough.
Just made these. I used coconut oil and the dough was very wet. Needless to say, I couldn’t cut them into fun shapes. But I just made balls and they turned out ok. My daughter (although only 2) needs them a bit sweeter so I drizzled honey on top! Will definitely make these again for my 10 month old in a few months!
This recipe was a disaster for me. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who had trouble.
I, too, had to add an egg but once I did that they turned out great!
That should be okay. You just want to get it shredded really tiny!
Thanks for this recipe! Will it work with a fine grater rather than microplane tool?
Will these work with a fine shredder rather than microplane tool?
Applesauce is a much different texture than oil. You need the oil so that it will absorb into everything which makes it form into a dough that stays together. Also make sure that you’re using fresh, raw beets from the produce section, not canned ones! Similar to this recipe: http://b12.ba4.myftpupload.com/2010/08/14/carrot-snack-sticks-program/ You need to really knead the dough well so that the oil coats and absorbs into everything!
Made this today. Used apple sauce instead of oil. Was left w powder not dough. Added more apple sauce and then it turned into sticky weirdness. I couldn’t form it at all so I globbed it onto the parchment. It’s cooking now. Where did I go wrong?