Health Hotline Magazine | February 2022

Ingredients • • Scant ¼ teaspoon Natural Grocers Brand Bulk Real Salt • ¼ cup frozen beets, thawed* • ¼ cup milk (sub dairy free if preferred) • 2 tablespoons Natural Grocers Brand Organic Grade A Dark Maple Syrup • 1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract • 1 Natural Grocers Brand Organic Pasture-Raised Egg • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature • ½ cup + 2 tablespoons Natural Grocers Brand Bulk Organic Coconut Sugar Optional Natural Grocers Brand Bulk add-ins (up to ½ cup total): • Apple Juice Sweetened Cranberries, roughly chopped • Pecan Pieces • Walnut Halves & Pieces, chopped • Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips • Pumpkin Seeds *If frozen beets are unavailable, sub ¼ cup steamed or boiled sliced fresh beets. Note that cookies made with fresh beets will be a lighter pink than those made with frozen beets. Make it dairy free, egg free, and vegan: Soak 1 tablespoon of ground flax in 2½ tablespoons water for 5 minutes to make a flax egg. Use this mixture to substitute for the egg. Substitute Natural Grocers Brand Organic Plant Based Buttery Sticks for the butter and your favorite plain plant-based milk for the milk. Increase the baking time to 15 minutes. Heart Beet Coo ies What better way to show your Valentine your love than with these pretty pink cookies? They’re naturally colored with heart-healthy beets, but don’t have a “beet-y” flavor, and even better? They can be loaded with all sorts of your favorite goodies to really make them special. See the note below for easy adaptations to make them dairy free and vegan! 1½ cups Natural Grocers ® BrandGluten Free All-Purpose Flour • 1 teaspoon baking powder

Makes: 24 cookies Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 10-12 minutes Total time: 30 minutes

Instructions 1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 2. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. 3. Using a blender or an immersion blender, blend the beets, milk, maple syrup, and vanilla until beets are mostly smooth. Add the egg and blend until the egg is incorporated. 4. Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until the mixture becomes a shade lighter and the sugar is well incorporated. If you don’t have a stand mixer you can do this in a bowl with a wooden spoon. 5. Add the flour and beet mixtures to the bowl with the butter-sugar mixture and mix until smooth and evenly mixed. Add your choice of add-ins and mix until they are evenly dispersed. 6. Drop the batter in tablespoon dollops onto the prepared baking sheet. (You will likely need to bake them in two batches, fitting about 12 on the baking sheet at a time.) Lightly wet your fingers and press the cookies down slightly, rewetting your fingers as needed to prevent sticking. Bake for 13 minutes. Let cookie sheet cool completely before baking the second half of the cookies. Alternatively, use two baking sheets and rotate halfway through baking time. 7. Enjoy warmout of the oven or let the cookies cool on a cooling rack. If desired, dust the cookies with a light sprinkling of powdered sugar before serving.

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