Yes, I did cross the naughty but nice brownie border and introduced them to vegetables. Surprisingly they made great buddies, resulting in that slightly gooey, soft yet dense brownie feeling but with a surprisingly stingy amount of chocolate! Therefore I can pretend they are very slightly healthier than your regular brownies… oh and for the record, no they do not taste like vegetable matter! I also used some extra virgin coconut oil, which really also you can pretend is a full blown health food in its own right… (I will leave you to draw your own conclusions, I have never pretended to be a nutrition expert!)
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On the night I baked these brownies I hadn’t actually intended to bake but halfway through grating what seemed like a never ending sized monster sweet potato to make our veggie burgers, I thought hmmm…lets bake something… there are after all only so many sweet potato burgers one can eat for dinner! I had baked once before with sweet potato, with not so great results but this time was a winner! Now I won’t lie you must enjoy the flavour of coconut as due to the coconut oil it does give off the aroma – but if you enjoy that, then you will love these brownies!!
Next time I think I will try steaming and then mashing the sweet potato, as to be honest grating is my least favourite kitchen chore! Let me know if you try it the mashed way!
Makes one square pan:
Ingredients:
220g sweet potato, grated
2 large eggs
130g coconut oil
150g self-raising wholemeal flour
100g light brown sugar
30g cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g dark chocolate
25g white chocolate chunks
100g golden caster sugar
1 tbsp coconut nectar
1/2 tsp sea salt
Method:
1) Place the grated sweet potato in a bowl, cover with cling film and steam in the microwave for minutes.
2) In a saucepan melt the coconut oil and sugars, and simmer on a medium heat for 5 minutes, then add the coconut nectar – it should sizzle a little add the dark chocolate and put to one side, stirring until melted. Pre-heat oven to 180o.
3) In a bowl sift the flour, salt and cocoa together. Lightly beat the vanilla with eggs, and mix gently into the flour mix. Fold in the sweet potato, then the prepared chocolate sugar mix until just combined.
4) Line the pan with parchment paper, pour in the brownie batter and scatter over the white chocolate chunks.
5) Bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes or so, or until cooked but still slightly springy to touch and a skewer comes out relatively clean.
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Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before lifting onto a wire rack.
Cuts into 8 or so pieces depending on appetite!
My boyfriend gave them 10/10 and that was before he knew there was sweet potato in them!
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