First, we made Red Beet Buns. I started with 3 fresh beets which needed to be shredded. I got out my food processor (which I rarely use), couldn't find the manual, so I reasoned if I wanted the shreds to fall out of the side chute into a bowl I would use the pain plastic disc beneath the shredding disc to prevent the shreds from falling into the bowl. WRONG! All of the beet shreds wedged themselves firmly between the two discs until the whole thing came to a noisy halt. The only thing that came through the side chute was 3 blood red drops of beet juice. I have no idea how to work this darn thing.
After cleaning up that mess and wondering why on earth THIS recipe is in a book claiming to take 5 minutes a day, I added the shreds to the other ingredients and stirred them up in my Kitchen Aid mixer. With all the confusion of figuring out how to use the food processor, I mistakenly mixed up a whole recipe of the beet dough rather than a half recipe the assignment called for.
The dough seriously looked like bright pink frosting!
But as pretty and pink as it was, this dough was not at all sweet. I made a batch of beet buns to have with corn chowder for dinner. I thought Kaylee would be excited by the pink buns, but she took one look and announced she was NOT eating those.
But as pretty and pink as it was, this dough was not at all sweet. I made a batch of beet buns to have with corn chowder for dinner. I thought Kaylee would be excited by the pink buns, but she took one look and announced she was NOT eating those. 
I made another batch the next day to put in the freezer, then still had enough to make a loaf of red beet bread. Gary has been taking pink tuna sandwiches to work this week, the guys at the Home Depot got a kick out of that! Here is a beet bun buttered and hot from the oven. 
The taste? Well, I would have to call it strange. I am a beet lover, so much so that I make pickled beets on a regular basis, (using the lazy fool method, dumping canned beets into leftover pickle juice and letting them refrigerate a week) but these buns were, well, strange... When I served them I felt all Jessica Seinfeld-ish. (Here kids, you'll never notice the beets I hid in your buns... NOT!)
Anyway I have had enough beet bread for a while. So has Gary.
The second recipe this time turned out much better! We were to make a half recipe of the Whole Wheat Chocolate Espresso dough and make Chocolate Tangerine Bars. The dough contained bittersweet chocolate chunks (I used Ghiradelli), cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark) and espresso coffee along with the usual ingredients.
For the Tangerine bars, I added the zest of a tangerine, more bittersweet chocolate and dried cranberries. Then I baked them in a square pan as if they were brownies.
It only took half the dough, so I put the rest
into 6 muffin cups, sprinkled them with raw sugar, and baked them into what I call "Wake Up! Muffins".
Although they appear to be fudgy like brownies, the bars are actually breadlike in crumb and absolutely delicious. Not very sweet, but rich, moist and chocolatey! (Not at all dry Josie!)My breakfast:
A rich Chocolate Tangerine Bar with the tangerine segments, hot espresso and a good book on the Kindle!I
15 comments:
I was skeptical about the Red Beet buns too but we loved them! I was just putting the bright pink buns in the oven when my husband came home from work and declared "I'm not eating those." Well, he loved them and we're eating the last of them today.
I made turkey burgers deluxe for our first test taste...the beet bread was fabulous with turkey!
I also loved the bar bread. Far better than brownies I thought! Yours look very good!
The color of your dough matches your quilt on your page perfectly! Sorry you did not like the beets. I used cooked beets (really could not taste or detect them in the finished loaf) as well as roasted onions. It was great. My husband saw and smelled the "brownies" and was in for a bit of a surprise when he cut himself a piece to find out it was bread. He liked it though but his senses did play him a little trick.
Your tangerine bars look great. Along with espresso and good book, what could be better?
I'd eat your beet buns any day!
Beet buns with corn chowder: brilliant!
I laughed and laughed about your post on the buns. I too, wasn't paying attention and made the whole batch. IT MAKES A LOT OF BUNS. I ended up throwing some of the dough out which I hate to do but you can only eat so many pink buns.
Glad you liked the chocolate espresso bread better.
I did laugh about the comment of hiding the beets from your kids . . . no hiding the color on this one. I served these last night to a group of 10- 8 ate them with gusto and 2 simply couldn't even pick them up!
Your tangerine bars look very tasty!
To be fair, I've never figured out how to work the shredder part of my food processor. I just hand grate. All the time. It's slightly frustrating.
Your buns are an excellent shade of pink! I had my doubts too but loved them.
the chocolate bread looks awesome!
You're a real trooper, trying both these recipes! Glad you found something you like!
I loved the color of the dough. The tangerine bars came out great! I think those were my favorite too
I agree that the beet buns did taste a little strange, but we liked them. Your tangerine bars looks great!
The chocolate bread is my favorite so far too!
I got a kick about the hubby taking pink sandwiches to work. Too funny! :)
My favorite was the chocolate tangerine bars too! I never got around to making the beet buns but, from what I've read, they weren't a big hit in many kitchens.
Wow nice color!
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