Small, moist, and easy to snack on, these mini red velvet muffins make a fun little dessert or snack.
Most red velvet cakes today get their signature color from red food coloring. These get theirs from beet powder instead—and despite the color, they don’t taste like beets.
They’re sweetened entirely with dates, made with 100% whole-wheat flour, and have a subtle chocolate flavor from ground cacao nibs. And there’s no date paste to make first: the dates go straight into the blender with the other wet ingredients.
Blend, mix, bake. That’s it.
Makes about 36 mini muffins
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 100 g egg whites
- 170 g neutral oil
- 80 g milk
- 1½ teaspoons vinegar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 230 g nonfat plain Greek yogurt
- 300 g pitted dates
Dry Ingredients
- 150 g whole-wheat flour
- 60 g beet powder, sifted
- 1½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 20 g cacao nibs, finely ground
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F and prepare a mini muffin pan.
- Add the egg whites, oil, milk, vinegar, vanilla, Greek yogurt, and dates to a blender. Blend until smooth.
- In a large bowl, combine the whole-wheat flour, beet powder, baking soda, baking powder, and ground cacao nibs.
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
- Divide the batter among the mini muffin cups.
- Bake at 450°F for 5 minutes. Without removing the muffins from the oven, lower the temperature to 350°F and continue baking for about 12 minutes, or until done.
- Let cool briefly in the pan before removing.
A Few Notes
Beet Powder
Look for 100% beetroot powder with no other ingredients. You can find it at some health-food and specialty stores or online.
No Date Paste Required
You don’t need to make date paste first. Add the pitted dates directly to the blender with the other wet ingredients and blend.
Cacao Nibs—or Cocoa Powder
I use finely ground cacao nibs for a subtle chocolate flavor. Because nibs are pieces of the whole cacao bean, they retain the bean’s fiber and naturally occurring phytochemicals.
Don’t have cacao nibs? Use unsweetened cocoa powder instead. The chocolate flavor will be stronger and the muffins will be darker and more brown-red.
And because they’re mini, it’s remarkably easy to discover that several have disappeared.