Yes you read that correctly. There are sweet potatoes in these brownies!

I saw this recipe on Pinterest a couple weeks ago, and combined with my craving for chocolate baked goods, I knew this would have to be on the docket to try out.

And as luck would have it, I had some sweet potatoes that were getting borderline too old too eat. (Have I mentioned before that sometimes my eyes are bigger than my appetite at the grocery store?)

Anyway, I thought this would be a great endeavor to fill a craving and not waste some of our produce. I used the same instructions this woman provided, but added my own thoughts to each piece.

Sweet Potato Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked sweet potatoes
• 1 cup flour**
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• dash salt {1/8 t.}
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 4 T. oil {coconut, vegetable or canola}
• 2 T. pure maple syrup or honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• **Decrease flour to ¾ cup if you prefer more fudge-like brownies.

**I doubled this original recipe since I don’t have a small brownie pan, and I also wanted to use a full sweet potato. I also used coconut oil and honey, but you can choose your poison on these areas.

Instructions

1. Peel and chop 1 cup of raw sweet potatoes. Since they will not lay evenly in the cup, you want a lot more than what appears to be a cup. I just cut a whole potato and it was just perfect as I eyeballed 2 cups worth.
2. Boil, microwave or bake the potatoes until soft. I microwaved them in a bowl of water for 15 minutes. You want to be able to put a fork in them easily.
3. In a mixer bowl, combine ½ cup sugar, egg, 1 tsp. vanilla, 4 T of oil {coconut, vegetable or canola} and 2 T. maple syrup or honey.
4. Beat on high for 30 minutes with your whisk attachment until frothy. (I am not sure that 30 minutes is really needed for this. It never got frothy for me. It just got creamy.)
5. Meanwhile, combine the flour, ½ cup cocoa powder, 1 tsp. baking powder and dash of salt into a large bowl. Whisk them together to prevent lumps. Keep separate from wet ingredients for now.
6. Add the hot, cooked potatoes right into the mixing bowl with the wet ingredients.
7. Beat on high for 1 minute until the batter turns a lovely orange and there are just little bits of sweet potato. There were a lot of lumps in mine which I tried smashing with a spatula, but not all of them would go away. It will be fine once you bake it.
8. Now, with the mixer on slow, add your dry ingredients and beat on high another minute until thick and creamy.
9. Spread the batter into a greased pan and put in a preheated 350 degree oven.
10. Brownies are done when toothpick or cake tester comes out with bits of moist brownie on it. {Check at 15 min, mine took about 25 minutes total.}
11. Allow them to cool before cutting. Best if stored in the refrigerator.

This recipe took me about an hour to complete. And only about 5 minutes to eat two slices…

Here is my opinion of this recipe.

It’s the bomb.com!

Both Tom and I were a bit apprehensive about this since our last adventure of brownies were gluten free and tasted like chalk. (Luckily or unluckily, the dogs took care of them for us and ate the whole pan while we weren’t looking.)

So doing another “health craze” recipe was risky. Usually my baking is full of butter and not healthy things…

However, these did not disappoint. They are delicious. They are fairly thick, unlike normal recipes for brownies. They taste great though and don’t have a potatoey taste. (Which is good because most things potato taste like dirt to me right now…)

I will say that I like them better warm than after they have been refrigerated. Once they are cold, they resemble the thickness and taste of fudge more than a brownie. They are still good though this way, but it is definitely a different texture and I wasn’t able to eat a whole slice unlike the night before where I ate two warm slices…

We will definitely be making these again! Even better that they are healthier than most brownie recipes. Win!

Have you tried any good recipes lately? Would you have thought to put sweet potatoes in brownies?