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Not only are these beet cookies gorgeous, they’re perfectly sweet and super crunchy, the kind of treat that makes everyone happy. Beet that!
“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.
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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!”
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.
Notes
- *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 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! 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?
I used olive oil for the “oil” ingredient (would be helpful to say what kinds of oils could be used). My 2 year old ate a lot of them. I thought they tasted kind of strange, but I’m just so sick of beets I guess (we got a lot from our CSA, and for me, I can only eat so many).
Mine just stayed like loose flour and didn’t come together as dough. I still just spread it out on parchment paper and am baking it right now.
You could use the food processor with the grater attachment!
Could you put the beets in the food processor or blender instead of using the grater?
Caryn\carrot juice is a great substitute for orange color. It doesn’t have a whole lot of taste to it either
I haven’t those, but the spinach would definitely work for adding color. You might need to add a liquid, though, because spinach puree won’t come out very liquid like the beet puree does!
I made these with my 3 year old daughter and we had so much fun! Love the recipe. I’m wondering if there are any other vegetables we could use to produce a different color to make a rainbow of cookies. Like maybe sweet potato for orange or a spinach puree for green? What guidelines could you give for choosing substitutions?