If you've ever seen my book shelf or rather shelves, you'll know I'm a little obsessed with cookbooks. I love flipping through them and looking at all the beautiful photos. The photos are what inspire me in the kitchen. As much as I also love food blogs, there's just something so special about sitting down with a cup of tea and flipping through a cookbook on a Sunday afternoon.
This book "the Greenhouse Cookbook" is a newbie on my book shelf and I just had to make these Sweet Potato Brownies
The photography in this book is beautiful. It will definitley make you hungry! I also love that it's printed on matte paper (maybe that's a weird thing to love, but I do!). It's created by four people, who own Greenhouse Juice and Emma is one of them (however, this recipe specifically was created by Christine Flynn at IQ Food Co). I featured her recently for International Women's Day.
No matter if you're cooking for vegans or ominivores like in my household, there's something for everyone in this 100% plant-based recipe cookbook.
Back to these brownies, I love the fact they call for sweet potato as an ingredient because I love putting sweet potato into baked goods and smoothies. I know that might sound weird, but it actually makes perfect sense!
I topped them with coconut flakes and a couple of extra chocolate chips.
Sweet potato is naturally sweet and is FULL of fiber, so it really only makes sense to include it in baked goods and brownies, doesn't it?
The sweet potato and applesauce make them so moist and delicious.
Before I share the recipe, I should tell you I made a couple of modifications, but quite minor. I used maple syrup instead of agave and eggs instead of chia. I like adding eggs for protein. Now because I added eggs I reduced the almond butter a touch just to ensure the texture was still okay. I had to cook them a lot longer then the recipe suggests but once it's in the oven, it doesn't matter to me! They were worth the wait! You'll see my additions in the recipe below and you can decide how you want to make them.
Desserts
Sweet Potato Brownies
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Ingredients
- 1 large sweet potato, chopped
- 3/4 cup almond butter*
- 1/2 cup maple syrup**
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 eggs***
- 1 1/2 cups raw cacao powder****
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Bake sweet potato for 35-45 minutes in a covered baking dish or until fork tender. Mash with a fork.
- Reduce heat to 325F. Line a rimmed 9x9inch baking dish with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl combine mashed sweet potato, almond butter, maple syrup, eggs and applesauce. Make sure there are no lumps in the almond butter. Pour all the dry ingredients on top. Combine with a rubber spatula. The trick is to eliminate all the clumps but not to overmix. If you mix too much the baking soda will activate early and the brownie won't rise.
- I had to bake these until 40 minutes but the original recipe says 26 minutes (fyi). Remove from oven and let cool. Gentle remove from baking dish, tightly wrap in plastic and freezer. After about an hour use a hot, wet knife to cut evenly into 18 brownies. Serve chilled.
Notes
Original recipe calls for:
*1 cup plus 1 tbsp almond butter
**1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp raw agave
***3 tsp chia seeds
****1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
The lovely folks at Greenhouse Juice are offering you a chance to win their cookbook on my instagram all weekend long!
UPDATE: I posted an updated version of this recipe on instagram. ENJOY!
Have a joyous weekend!
Joy
Hi Joy! How much mashed sweet potato did you use? I can't wait to make these! Thanks!
ReplyThe original recipe says "1 large potato" so that's what I used. Enjoy! They are delicious.. be sure to check my note about cooking time, because they took quite a bit longer for me than what it stated in the book.
Hi Joy, Could I use peanut butter instead of almond butter?
ReplyHey Amy, You definitely could, however, if you do, we advise that you use organic peanut butter. Joy actually wrote a post about the difference between almond butter and peanut butter that may be of interest to you! https://www.joyoushealth.com/26346-blog-peanut-butter-vs-almond-butter Rachel - Joyous Health Team
Hi Joy, Baking the sweet potato in the oven didn't work well for me, it created a dry skin and I lost quite a bit of potato, it was also very long. Next time I think I'll steam or boil it.
ReplyHey Julie, Oh no - that's no good! I imagine you followed the directions as per how Joy listed it? How did you lose the potato? Steaming or boiling would work just as well if you wanted to do that in the future :) Rachel - Joyous Health Team
I'm a tight wad with my ingredients. These look expensive to make with so much raw cacao, maple syrup and such, but I'm sure they're worth it! For a special occasion I wouldn't complain if someone made them for me though! Happy Mother's Day, and Happy Mutter's Day for all those who have dog-fur-babies instead.
ReplyHey Janet, They most definitely are worth it! But by all means, save it for a special occasion :) They'll be that much tastier knowing you waited so patiently for them! Rachel - Joyous Health Team
I just made a batch and they are amazing!! I can't wait to fool my son and husband with these amazing treats. They'll never guess that there is sweet potato in them. I think I will top them with some mixed berries for my Mom's Mother's Day dessert. Happy Mother's Day!!
Replywould it be possible to subst agave with honey or maple syrup as it's a bit diff to find? I'll be using the chia seed recipe variation as unfortunately I'm allergic to eggs
ReplyHey Steph, Sure, you can definitely swap that. We prefer raw honey or maple syrup for the nutritional properties that come along with it whereas agave is higher in fructose which taxes the liver, but we understand there are cost and convenience implications as well so do whatever feels best for you! Rachel - Joyous Health Team
We have a nut allergy in the house what can we use for substitutes?
ReplyHey Bessie, Sunflower butter would work great! :) Rachel - Joyous Health Team
Hi can I ask why you wrap in plastic (cling wrap) and put in the freezer? Thanks
ReplyHey Lynne! They are quite moist brownies and Joy just found it held together more after freezing it altogether :) Rachel - Joyous Health Team
I microwaved the sweet potato then blended everything in the food processor and it worked out great after 30 minutes
ReplyAwesome, Elaine! If you want to avoid the microwave, you can roast them the night before and then make them the next day if it takes too long to roast them the day of :) Rachel - Joyous Health Team
Could you go back to 3tsp chia seeds instead of 2 eggs but keep everything else about your recipe the same?
ReplyYou can try! Let me know if it works :)
Please will you give a weight on the sweet potato. the ones in the stores these days are either tiny or massive. My latest large ones are about 1.5 lbs. Thank you!!
ReplyHi Elaine, I don't have a kitchen scale (I need one) so I can't tell you a weight. Also, I'm not the original author of this recipe, I made it from a cookbook I was testing for Greenhouse Juice. So I just kinda guessed how much. Do you follow them on instagram, you could always reach out?
I took a wild guess and cooked up a 1 lb sweet potato and it yielded about 1 cup. The recipe worked well, (oh yes they are yummy!), so that must be about right! Thanks for the reply!!
ReplyGreat to hear! Thanks for letting me know!
Wondered if you could use something else instead of so much almond butter. Not another nut butter. Maybe more sweet potato? 3/4cup of almond butter is a lot and quite an expensive add in.
ReplyThis was a recipe I tested out from someone else's cookbook, so I haven't tested it with less almond butter. You could swap in any other kind of nut butter -- maybe a sunflower butter! That would totally work because you'll get a similar texture.
If you have a copy of The Joyous Cookbook, my Chickpea Walnut Brownies are amazing and there is no almond butter on page 219. :) https://www.joyoushealth.com/24215-product-the-joyous-cookbook-real-food-nourishing-recipes-for-everyday-living