Sweet Potato Brownies // Simple Eating
With this pandemic, one thing that I told myself I would conquer was baking something that’s been on my to-do list of cooking & baking things.
One of the things on my list has been Sweet Potato Brownies. I’ve been inspired by many healthy foodie bloggers who have posted deliciously crafted desserts using sweet potato as the base.
I found this recipe from Minimalist Baker for Fudgy Sweet Potato Brownies. This site is one of my favorite food blogging sites everrr! I’ve followed them for years and appreciate their creations because they focus on taking some of my favorite dishes and cooking it into its healthiest versions!
Aside from the end result of ending up with delicious brownies, the recipe called for ingredients that are commonly already found in my pantry. I will say that there were a couple of things that I didn’t have and did some ingredient swapping of my own. Regardless, the brownies were still fudgy and chocolatey!
Check out the full recipe below with my notes italicized listing out my substitutes:
Brownie Batter // Ingredients US Customary – Metric
1 cup of mashed sweet potato
2/3 cup maple syrup (NOTE: I didn’t have pure maple syrup and used pancake syrup instead)
1/2 cup almond butter or peanut butter
1 tsp pure vanilla extract (NOTE: I swapped this out for 1 tsp of cinnamon instead)
1 ½ Tbsp avocado oil (NOTE: I ended up using this Mediterranean oil blend)
1/2 cup cocoa powder or cacao powder (NOTE: I did not add Cacao or cocoa powder to my recipe)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup oat flour (NOTE: I just used regular all-purpose flour and it worked just fine)
1/2 cup chopped raw pecans (NOTE: I skipped on this ingredient)
1/4 cup dairy-free chocolate chips (NOTE: I used semi-sweet chocolate chips)
Instructions
To make sweet potato purée, wrap each sweet potato in foil and line each wrapped potato on a baking tray. Bake at 400 F for 25-30 minutes or until tender to the touch. Let the potatoes sit in the foil until cool. Cut cooled potatoes in half and carefully peel off skin. To create the puree, you can mash the potatoes one by one in a mixing bowl or throw in a blender. Set aside.
Adjust oven temperature to 350 degrees F and make sure to coat a 8×8-inch baking pan (or similar-size pan) with PAM or line with parchment paper. Set aside.
To a large mixing bowl, add sweet potato purée, syrup, almond/peanut butter, cinnamon, and oil and stir to combine. Add cacao powder (if you plan to use this), sea salt, and baking powder and stir to combine. Then add flour and stir until a thick, scoopable batter is achieved.
Transfer batter to your baking dish and spread into an even layer using a spoon or rubber spatula. Then top with pecans/walnuts (optional) and chocolate chips.
Bake on the center rack at 350 F for 28-32 minutes. The brownie edges should appear slightly dry and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out pretty clean. My edges came out a bit darker, but they did not taste burnt once they cooled.
Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 30 minutes – 1 hour.
