Here is a Valentine’s Day snack anyone can enjoy. They don’t contain any sugar, eggs or dairy. Just almond flour, applesauce and beets. That’s it. I actually prepared the applesauce and beet purée the night before. So the following day, all I did was add everything to the bowl, mix to combine and baked it.
My son enjoyed these as is. They aren’t as sweet once they’re baked but if you prefer some sweetness, you may drizzle some honey (⚠️honey shouldn’t be given to children under the age of 1), maple syrup, or chocolate over them after they have baked and cooled.
Homemade Unsweetened Applesauce
Ingredients:
May double the ingredients to make more. This makes about 16 ounces
- 2 pounds Organic Apples, I used Gala
- 3 tablespoons filtered water
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
Instructions:
Note: this is my favorite applesauce recipe. It truly is so tasty. I highly recommend purchasing organic apples as this will help provide that delicious flavor to your applesauce. The tastier the apples, the tastier your applesauce will be.
Wash, peel, and core the apples. Cut the apples into chunks and place them in a pot. Add the water, lemon and cinnamon. Stir and cover it with a lid. Allow it to cook (stirring frequently) over medium-low heat until the apples are soft, about 20 minutes. Allow it to cool, place it in a blender and blend until it’s pureed.
Homemade Beet Puree
Ingredients:
- 2 medium beets
Note: You will have beet puree leftovers.
Instructions:
Thoroughly wash and scrub the beets under cold water. Peel the skin off of the beets using a vegetable peeler. The beets will make your hands red. I like to wash my hands with soap and water before I touch anything else. Place the beets on a cutting board and carefully cut the ends off. If the beet is too round and you need to keep it stable, cut a strip off from one of the round sides; that way you can easily stand the beet up straight. Cut the beets into thin slices and then into quarters. Place the beets in the steam basket.
Add water to your saucepan, place the steam basket over the saucepan, and cover it with a lid. Make sure the steam basket doesn’t touch the water when placed inside the saucepan. Once the water starts to boil, decrease the heat to low/medium ( a temperature to where you can hear a low boil occurring in the saucepan). Allow it to steam for 30 minutes to 1 hour or until the beets are soft, which can be checked with a fork.
NOTE: Cook times vary since the beets can cook faster if the steam basket is larger
Be aware of the water level. Since the steaming time is for a long duration, the water level might get low and cause the saucepan to burn. Carefully (be careful of the steam which can burn your hands) raise the steam basket using heat protectant gloves to check the water level.
The beets are done when they are fork tender, meaning a fork can easily go through the beets.
Carefully spoon the steamed beets into the blender. Allow it to sit for about 15 minutes before blending. This will allow it to cool slightly. Add about 2-4 tablespoons of filtered water (add 2 tablespoons. If the beets aren’t blending well and add a little bit more).
Cover the lid tightly and blend it until it has all been blended and resembles a pureed like consistency.
Place them into a glass container and let them cool.
Applesauce Beet Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1 1/4 cups unsweetened homemade applesauce
- 1/4 cup homemade beet purée
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Add the flour to a bowl. The flour might have some clumps. Using a whisk or a fork, stir the flour to get rid of any clumps. Add the applesauce and beet purée to the flour and mix until combined. The batter will be a bit sticky.
Line a baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper.
Using a spoon, measuring spoon or a cookie scoop, scoop some of the batter into your hand and shape the cookies.
Similar to how the spinach cookies are made, form the cookies into desired shapes. I formed mine into heart shapes and into regular rounds (Once the round cookies were baked, and cooled off, I cut heart shapes using a cookie cutter). These don’t have any leveling agents in them so they will not rise. The way you form them are the way they will stay. So make sure to flatten them out a bit. You may refer to my spinach cookie recipe video for reference, if desired.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, remove from the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes. Transfer them to a cooling rack and allow them to cool completely.
Enjoy
