Valentine’s Day Beet Cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

2. Wash the beets and trim off any leaves or stalks. Don’t peel them. Did you know you can eat beet leaves? If your beets came with leaves, save them and use them in a salad.

3. Place the beets in a small pot and add enough water to cover them. Boil the beets for 30 to 40 minutes or until the beets can easily be pierced by a fork. You want the beets to be super tender. When they are ready turn off the heat. Let the beets and the water cool. Reserve the water the beets cooked in.

4. Once the beets are cool enough to handle, you can slip off their skin. I say slip and not peel because the skin really does just “slip” right off if you use the paper towel method. Use a paper towel to tug the skin off.

5. Roughly chop up the beets and add them to your blender. Remember the cooking liquid you reserved? See how it’s a deep, deep crimson? Add one cup of that to the blender. Puree until the mixture is smooth. The result will be a lovely red!

6. In a bowl, mix together the cake mix, the eggs and the beet puree. Mix until smooth.

7. Spray two standard size cupcake tins with cooking spray or line with baking cups. I got about 15 cupcakes but your results may vary slightly. Fill each cup 2/3 of the way.

8. Bake according to the directions on your cake mix box. 20 minutes at 350˚F was perfect for mine. Remove pans from the oven when done. Let the cupcakes cool before adding the white chocolate drizzle.

9. To melt the chocolate chips, use a microwave-safe bowl and your microwave set on low (I use the defrost setting). Put the chocolate into the bowl and then add the vegetable oil to the chocolate. I had to learn the hard way that chocolate won’t drizzle without adding some oil. Heat for 30 seconds at a time, stirring like mad in between. Eventually, the chocolate will melt enough to flow smoothly and you have a few minutes before it hardens again. Drizzle the top of each cupcake with whatever design you can create. Have fun!

Yields 15 cupcakes.

Serving Size: 1 cupcake

With white chocolate drizzle:

Weight Watchers Points+: 5

Calories 168, Carbs 29, Fat 5g, Protein 2g

Without white chocolate drizzle:

Weight Watchers Points+: 4

Calories 130, Carbs 24, Fat 3g, Protein 2g