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“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!” 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.
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.
Good grief these are delicious, and so easy to make!
My picky 18 month old loves them.
Thanks so much for sharing your recipes 🙂
OH – and let me add, I’ve tried making them bigger, smaller, turning the heat down, leaving them in for less time, etc…
I have made these twice unsuccessfully! They always come out dry and bitter. Any idea what I’m doing wrong?
Yum! Made these and at first the little one didn’t want any but this morning she had them for breakfast and asked for more! 😀
My son loves these cookies. In fact they are the inspiration for his valentines. Thanks
See the valentines at Hammer & Thread
I have a double batch in the oven now. I thought their would be a bit more dough. I was only able to make 26- 1/4″ thick hearts (1.5-2″ hearts). I can’t wait to try them, they are for my daughters preschool class.
So I made these and although they were not a hit it gave me an idea to replace the beets with grated carrots and a little apple. I also added cinnamon and nutmeg (ginger would be good too)and needed less oil as the carrot/apple mixture was so moist. I used brown sugar instead of white and did a mix of 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and all purpose. I think next time I will add chopped dates or raisin too, maybe nuts too. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
these were a hit! I didn’t have any problems with the dough- I wonder if people aren’t mixing the beets with the dry stuff thoroughly enough before adding the oil? I think I had mine a bit too thick (but they were super yummy anyway!). I rolled them out and used a pizza cutter to cut my squares. It took just seconds to do it!
My 5 year old was having left over birthday cake when these cake out of the oven. He abandoned his cake when he saw the pretty colored cookies… he had a few of them for dessert instead and proclaimed them the best ever! 😀
I love the idea of these cookies. I’m always looking for healthy snack options that I can take when we’re out. The first time I tried them I didn’t love the way they came out. I think I couldn’t get the beets shredded fine enough and it was such a mess. The second time around I pureed the fresh beets and made a few alterations to the recipe. I added agave nector instead of sugar. I used a load of oat flour instead of AP until I got the desired consistancy. Then added a lot of old fashioned oats and a handful of raisins. I used half oil and half butter. Instead of rolling out the dough I made balls and did a thumbprint shape cookie. This time they came out delicious!!!! I mean wee-licious!!!
These are strangely addictive! Thank you for the recipe!
I made these cookies a few weeks ago and used my Microplane Coarse Grater and they turned out great. I noticed that you used the Medium Ribbon Grater, so I tried that this morning. Although I thought the consistency of the beets would be better for the recipe, I could not get the dough to come together without adding extra oil. So I decided to make another batch (to put in the freezer for lunches), but used my food processor instead. I used the shredding disk to basically julienne the beets, then I take them out and use the food processing blade shred them. This is how I shred the carrots for the carrot snack sticks and it has always come out perfectly.
BTW- my 14 month old can not get enough of these cookies!!
I tried these tonight & they were great. I will admit, I had to google “beet” because I have only ever seen them in a can. Sad, I know.
My 2 yr old and I gobbled them up. He said he wanted cookies before dinner & I didn’t feel bad about giving him a few of these 🙂 I had watched the video about the carrot snack sticks & it could easily be applied to these as well. Yum, thanks!
We tried this today and it was great! I think the key is to really get in there with your hands and knead it! We used whole wheat pastry flour, brown sugar, and then added some cinnamon and some vanilla. They were very tasty and my 2 year old asked for more, which was cool! I used 1 large organic beet and they turned out a lovely deep purple magenta color. Thanks! This was fun – and I have never worked with beets before, so it was also inspiring 🙂
You didn’t do anything wrong, it was probably the beet! haha
This recipe is truely amazing! But i did have some problems. While baking the cookies lost their colour. The result was a very light almost orange colour, in the centre a little pink. Any ideas what i did wrong?
Thank you for this recipe. I received a few beets in my CSA basket and was wondering what to do with them. I had just enough to make these cookies. They did come out a bit crispy, but I think it was due to them being to thin when we rolled them out. My girls, 1 and 2, are eating them and that’s all that matters. 🙂