You’ll have to trust me on this one… these brownies are amazing. Really. And the lucky people you serve them to will never know they are eating unsweetened cocoa, whole wheat flour and sweet potato puree. I promise.
It will be our little secret.
This is an easy recipe from Whole Living magazine (no electric mixer required). I made two changes. First, I substituted a packet of VIA from Starbucks for the instant espresso powder (the best use I have found so far for VIA is baking). And second, I substituted regular whole wheat flour for whole wheat pastry flour, because I am short on cupboard space and I didn’t feel like buying another bag of flour just to make a batch of brownies. The substitutions worked beautifully… what I got was rich, moist cocoa brownies with the perfect flavor combination of coffee and chocolate.
Sweet Potato Espresso Brownies
Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup regular whole wheat flour
- 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup sweet potato puree If you can’t find canned sweet potato puree at your grocery store, make your own by using a baked sweet potato or a can of whole sweet potatoes. Puree in a food processor until smooth.
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp. instant espresso powder or 1 package Starbucks VIA
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a square 8″ baking pan by buttering it or spraying with non-stick baker’s spray. Set aside.
- In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in the sugar and sweet potato puree. Add the egg and mix to combine thoroughly. Set aside. In a small bowl or measuring cup, stir together the vanilla extract with the instant coffee until the coffee is dissolved. Set aside.
- Stirring the cocoa powder into the butter
- In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter over low heat. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the cocoa powder. The mixture will be thick. Stir in the vanilla mixture. Add the sweet potato batter to the cocoa mixture and stir well until the batter is uniform in color. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
- Bake the brownies at 350 degrees until the top looks dry and an inserted knife comes out with just a few moist crumbs – 25 to 30 minutes.
- Cool to room temperature before serving.
