Sweet potato brownies

Dense, fudgy and made without flour or sugar. Nobody guesses there's sweet potato in them.

40 min
Total time: 40 min
Hands-on: 12 slices
Servings: 175 cal
Per serving: Easy
Difficulty: Oven
Method

Photo: www.Pixel.la Free Stock Photos · CC0

Ingredients

12 slices

Nutrition facts

per slice

175cal

Protein: 7 g16 %
Carbs: 18 g42 %
Fat: 8 g42 %
Fiber: 5 g
Sugarstotal, including the natural sugars in fruit and dairy: 9 g

Approximate values, calculated from food composition tables. They vary with the brands and cuts you use.

Step by step

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Cover

Sweet potato brownies

Dense, fudgy and made without flour or sugar. Nobody guesses there's sweet potato in them.

1Step 1 of 6

Roast the sweet potato

Prick the sweet potato a few times and roast it whole at 400 °F (200 °C) for 45 minutes, or microwave it on high for 10 minutes, turning it halfway. It has to be completely soft.

Tip: Roasted, it's much sweeter than boiled, just like pumpkin. Boiling also adds extra water.

2Step 2 of 6

Blend the base

Peel the sweet potato and blend it with the drained dates, eggs and nut butter until completely smooth.

3Step 3 of 6

Add the cocoa

Add the sifted cocoa, baking powder and salt, and mix well. The batter will be thick and dark, more like a spread than a cake batter.

4Step 4 of 6

Into the pan with the chocolate

Spread into an 8-inch (20 cm) square pan lined with parchment paper and scatter the chopped chocolate on top, pressing it in a little with your finger.

5Step 5 of 6

25 minutes and not one more

Bake for 25 minutes at 350 °F (180 °C). A toothpick should come out with moist crumbs attached: if it comes out clean, you've gone too far and they'll be dry.

25:0025 min · 25 minutes and not one more

6Step 6 of 6

Cool before cutting

Let them cool completely in the pan, at least an hour. Warm, they're soft and fall apart; cold, they firm up and cut into clean squares.

1:00:0060 min · Cool before cutting

About this recipe

Roasted sweet potato is sweet, creamy and mild, three things that make it the perfect stand-in for butter and sugar in brownies. And no, they don't taste like sweet potato: the cocoa covers it completely.

What matters most here is the bake. You take brownies out when they still look underdone: if you wait for the toothpick to come out clean, it's not a brownie anymore, it's chocolate cake.

There's no flour, so they're gluten-free, and they're 175 calories a square.

Tips for getting it right

Pure unsweetened cocoa, not hot chocolate mix: the mix is sugar with a little cocoa, and here it ruins everything.
The dark chocolate on top isn't decoration: those melted pockets are what make it taste like a real brownie.
They're even better the next day: they firm up and get fudgier.

Storage

4 days in the fridge in an airtight container, and up to 3 months frozen in portions. Warmed for 15 seconds in the microwave, they're spectacular.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Can you taste the sweet potato?

No. Cocoa has such a dominant flavor that it covers it completely; the sweet potato just adds background sweetness and a dense, moist texture. I've served these dozens of times without saying anything and nobody has guessed.

Can I use pumpkin instead of sweet potato?

Yes, but pumpkin has more water and less sweetness, so they'll be wetter and less sweet. If you use it, roast it well so it loses water and add a couple more dates.

How do I know when brownies are done?

The toothpick should come out with moist crumbs, never clean. A perfect brownie always looks raw when you take it out: it finishes setting as it cools.

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