Back when I was a nanny, I often said to myself, “I will NEVER do {insert things employers did that annoyed me here}!” One of those things was, “I will NEVER hide vegetables to get my kid to eat them! S/he will just…EAT VEGETABLES!”

That worked for awhile when my baby was excited to have anything other than formula and donor milk in her face. She was all up on the beets, green beans, and green pepper strip with a fierceness I’d only seen while watching her daddy eat peanut butter pancakes.

Then she turned into a toddler, and toddlers are jerks. Big ol’ adorable veggie-striking jerks. I’m lucky if I can get her to eat a half cup of veggies a week on her own. FYI I accidentally typed “vaggies” at first because that’s what happens after I check my search terms and then do an entry. Anyway.

So. Since the first rule of parenting is “learn to eat your words” and the second rule of parenting is “make sure your kids eat their veggies,” I’ve started hiding vegetables. First up, chocolate beet muffins.  These are a sometimes food because of the chocolate.

I adapted this recipe from one I found on Cake Student. You can check out the original (with MUCH better photos) here.

My version:

Ingredients
1 10 oz bag of bittersweet chocolate chips, divided
1/3 stick unsalted butter
2 cups organic whole wheat pastry flour (I used Arrowhead Mills)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 cup beet puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used The Greek Gods full fat this time but would normally use Straus)
1/4 cup milk

I’ve made these with three types of beets: small, organic beets from my CSA box, already peeled and steamed from the store, and big ol’ conventional beets from our local market. The ones made from the CSA box beets were a deeper red and a bit sweeter. If you don’t mind some extra peeling, look for lil baby organic beets!

Instructions
1. Preheat your oven to 375F. Line muffin tin with liners or spray with cooking spray (I ran out of liners and did a mix of both; they turned out fine both ways).

2. Peel, steam, and puree your beets. I steamed until they were fork tender and pureed using my stick blender.

3. Melt together butter and 2/3c chocolate chips over low heat. Whisk until smooth and set aside.

4. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients.

5. In a separate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients. Stir in the melted chocolate.

6.  Combine wet and dry ingredients, stirring gently until combined. Some floury spots are ok. You will get a big bowl of weird pink fluffy stuff. Yum!

7. Spoon into prepared muffin tins, right up to the top. I doubled the recipe and got 29. Bake 15-18 minutes. Muffins are done when you gently push the tops and they bounce back.

8. Let cool and shove in picky toddler’s face. Watch in horror as s/he gets chocolatey muffin everywhere.