Velvety beet cupcakes made with nutritious superfoods

One of the most common new year's resolutions I’ve been hearing from my friends is that they want to eat healthier. I think this is great and I've been supportive by telling them that healthy eating doesn’t necessarily have to mean counting calories and sacrificing flavour. In my opinion, the keys to healthy eating are making smarter food choices (reduce processed foods, for example), portion control and consuming calories that count (i.e. foods that have some sort of nutritional benefit). 

In the January issue of Chatelaine, we featured The new superfoods – 15 nutritional powerhouses that include such things as prunes, ricotta and beets! If you were enticed by our gorgeous cover photo of Velvety beet cupcakes, you'll be thrilled to know these babies are practically guilt-free as they contain three of our proclaimed superfoods – raspberries, beets and safflower oil. So what does that mean?

Fresh raspberries rule for fibre, with twice as much (8 g per cup) as blueberries have, and frozen ones contain double the vitamin C of frozen blueberries. They score extra points as one of the best sources of ellagic acid, a powerful antioxidant thought to inhibit cancer-cell formation. 

Beets are a great source of folate, which guards against birth defects, beets may help detoxify carcinogens and relieve inflammation. The greens are rich in eyesight-saving lutein and zeaxanthin, so eat them too. 

Olive oil gets all the glory these days, yet safflower oil, a polyunsaturated fat, deserves praise too. A recent study found cooking with it increased lean muscle, stabilized blood sugar and torched belly fat — which could be promising news for people with diabetes and those battling the bulge. 

Make these sinfully delicious, yet virtuous, cupcakes for your next bake sale or party. Your family, friends and body will all thank you.