In honor of Valentine's Day, this week's Healthy Bread in 5 project was a fitting selection of two recipes: Red Beet Buns and Chocolate Tangerine Bars.
Have to admit, I didn't have high hopes for the Red Beet Buns, and I guess it shows in my fuzzy picture.
I'm not a big fan of beets, but I thought maybe I wouldn't be able to taste them when they were baked in the bread. The rolls turned out a beautiful red color. The dough was sticky to work with, though, so I couldn't shape them as well as I would have liked.
I took my first bite...
...and I didn't like it. I could still taste the beets. I'm not sure why, but beets just taste like dirt to me, no matter how much I wash them off. And it was a pain to clean up all the beet stains. Not worth the effort for me, although my husband didn't seem to mind them. He thought it just "tasted like bread."
On to the next project, another unusual recipe, chocolate tangerine bars. I mixed up a batch of Chocolate Expresso Bread and used the dough for these bars. I was a little worried at first, because the dough didn't appear to rise on the counter or in the fridge overnight. And they didn't look to pretty after I baked them.
But I ended up liking these bars. Hard to resist the little pieces of chocolate. The bars were surprisingly soft considering that they didn't rise much. I also had to improvise the recipe and use semi-sweet chocolate, since I couldn't find bittersweet in our little grocery store. And I thought I had dried cranberries in the cupboard, but couldn't find them, so the bars went without them.
Would I make the chocolate bars again? I'm undecided. They were OK, but if I want a chocolate fix, I'd rather make brownies, not chocolate-studded bread. Maybe if I paired the bread with something, like a raspberry spread. Looking forward to reading how the recipes fared for the other bloggers. Please check out Big Black Dog to see their results.
OH..so sorry you didn't like the Beet Buns because we sure loved them!
ReplyDeleteYour Espresso Tangerine Bars looks so rich and chewy, almost like brownies!
Your tangerine bars look very tasty. We ate them with ice cream and liked the flavor contrast. Raspberry spread sounds good too.
ReplyDeleteThe beet buns lokk lovely and pink but have to agree about the beets part. We don't like them either.
ReplyDeleteDon't you hate it when you make something and you don't really like it? So glad that the tangerine bars were a possitive. I didn't think we would like those so I only made the beet buns-- strange, huh?
ReplyDeleteI, like Cristie, only made the beet buns. Good for you for trying both. I think we have to keep trying. Sometimes we "Find" that great recipe. Hopefully it will be next.
ReplyDeleteHi, everything looks great. Oh, semisweet = bittersweet. I used to work at Nestle. You did good making that substitute!
ReplyDeleteLMAO!! YES! DIRT!! Thats what they taste like to me too! Beets....ack.
ReplyDeleteThe chocolate espresso / tangerine dough stuff was much better. whew. Your bars looks really good
Haha! I totally hear you on the beet hatred :) But the chocolate, now that was love!
ReplyDeleteLol...that's what that taste was. I thought it had a root taste. We actually liked the beet buns, but they do taste a little bit weird.
ReplyDeleteYour tangerine bars look great! Mine were a little too dry.
I loved the chocolate bread but I did spread on some sweet strawberry jam. The beet buns? I liked them, hubby did not. I wont make them again either but I'm glad we tried them. I wasnt aware of how many people didnt like beets till this assignment. LOL
ReplyDeleteI didn't make the beet buns but I still may try them one day just because I love beets. I agree with you and bars also - I'd probably rather have a brownie but then I try to remember the premise of the book - healthy bread :)
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