As a foodie, Image Comics’ Chew became a fast favorite of mine. How could I not love a book with so many food references and puns? I was sold as soon as I read issue 1.
Due to his unique abilities, cibopath Tony Chu has a rather limited diet consisting of beets.
While delicious, beets can get a bit monotonous. As a result, I’ve decided to dress beets up as muffins for a tasty breakfast for Chu to chew while out on assignment.
Beets in a baked good may sound odd, but they get sweet when cooked, and work really nicely here. I’m no Amelia Mintz, so you’ll just have to trust me and try it out instead of just reading about it. And if the idea of veggies for breakfast still throws you off, just focus on the sugary streusel topping!
Ingredients
Pecan Streusel Topping:
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Pinch of salt
Beet Muffins:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 large egg
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 cup finely grated peeled beets
Special Equipment:
Muffin tin
Grater
Directions:
Pecan Streusel Topping
- Combine sugar, pecans, flour, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Add in the butter pieces and work the butter into the pecan mixture until it resembles wet sand. Keep the streusel in the fridge until you’re ready to top the muffins.
Beet Muffins
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin pan or use paper liners.
- Whisk together flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Make sure no clumps of sugar remain.
- In a small bowl, mix together oil, egg, buttermilk and maple syrup.
- Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined (mixture will still have a few lumps, but that’s OK).
- Add the grated beets and fold in gently until combined.
- Fill muffin cups with batter (about ¼ cup batter per muffin) and sprinkle each muffin with a generous amount of the streusel topping (about a heaping tablespoon of streusel per muffin.
- Bake for 20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through cooking so the muffins bake evenly.
- Enjoy warm with a slather of butter or cream cheese, if you like (I do!).
If you end up making these muffins, let me know what you think!
Any geeky fare you’d like to see featured in a future recipe? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter @geekwithawhisk.

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