Winter weekends are perfect for brownie time baking. If you haven’t tried a sweet potato brownie, you need to; you may never return to the classic! Sweet potato brownies are a healthy treat that are great for sharing with your gluten free friends. The sweet potatoes create a rich, fudgy consistency and, combined with the apricots, nuts and chocolate, create a wonderful mixture of textures that keeps you coming back for seconds.
The sweet potato and olive oil are also great substitutes for more traditional brownie ingredients and provide a great source of antioxidants, fibre and healthy dose of mono-saturated fatty acids.
The icing is optional, but worth the extra effort if you have time! The added sweetness is great if you prefer a rather sweet brownie.
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!
Ingredients
Brownie
2 cups sweet potato, steamed
1/2 cup olive oil, refined (or coconut if you prefer)
1/2 cup maple syrup
4 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
250g dark chocolate (I use 80% Lindt). chopped
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (or almonds, I’ve tried both!)
Icing
1 cup dates
1 cup date water
1/2 cup almond butter
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp of salt
Recipe
Brownies
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a square 23cm x 7cm cake tin.
- Steam the sweet potato until soft and mash until smooth.
- In a large mixing bowl, add sweet potato, olive oil and maple syrup and mix together. Add the cocoa powder, rice flour, baking powder, chopped chocolate, nuts and apricots and mix until combined.
- Poor the mixture into the prepared pan and level evenly.
- Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove even if it looks under cooked. This creates a nice fudgy brownie. Remove and cool for at least 20 minutes.
Icing
- Soak dates in water over night or in boiling water for 20 minutes.
- Drain the dates from the water, leaving 1/2 cup aside.
- Add the dates, saved date water, almond butter, cocoa powder and salt to a high speed blender until smooth.
- Once the brownies are cooled, coat them with the date icing and enjoy!
These fudge brownies keep well in the fridge for up to a week.
