Here's a common baking conundrum: You want to bake brownies, but you dread the temptation of eating the entire batch. Oh, and one other thing: You don't want to share.
We've found a healthy compromise.
In case you didn't know, Ella Mills is the queen of healthy brownies. She's the face of the popular U.K.-based blog (which is now verging on an empire) called Deliciously Ella. She famously cooked her way out of illness with a healthy diet she created for herself, and now she shares her recipes with the rest of us.
Her recipe for sweet potato brownies has always been wildly popular, but now she's topped it with an updated version that's gooier, sweeter and frosted.
There's no flour, butter or table sugar in this recipe. Instead, these brownies are made with sweet potatoes, dates, ground almonds, coconut oil and raw cacao powder (as opposed to conventional cocoa powder), all of which are nutritional powerhouses.
Check out the recipe here, and find more like it in Mills' latest cookbook, Natural Feasts.
My original recipe for sweet potato brownies has been so popular over the last few years, so many of you absolutely love them and make them all the time, but I've been feeling for a while that there was a way to make them so much better. I wanted something gooier, richer, more chocolaty and all round more indulgent, and these are the result of that. I promise you'd never know there was any veg in here at all! ―Ella Mills
Note: This recipe uses U.K. measurements, which is why the ingredients are listed in grams, not cups. We suggest weighing your ingredients for baking anyway, so invest in a scale if you don't already have one.
Overview
Serves: 10
Prep: 20 minutes
Cooking: 50 minutes
Total: 70 minutes
Difficulty: medium
For the brownies
- 500 grams of sweet potatoes (about 2 medium)
- 12 medjool dates
- 6 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
- 100 grams of ground almonds
- 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil
- a pinch of salt
- 100 grams of ground oats
- 6 tablespoons of raw cacao powder
For the icing
- 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons of almond butter
- 1 tablespoon of maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons of cacao powder
Method
Start by preheating the oven to 350 F on its convection setting, or 400 F if your oven doesn't have one. Peel the sweet potatoes, then cut them into chunks and place them into a steamer for about 20 minutes, until they become really soft.
Once they begin to fall apart, remove the sweet potatoes and add them to a food processor with the pitted dates.
Put the remaining ingredients into a bowl, and then mix in the sweet potato-date combination. Stir well.
Place into a lined, 9-by-9-inch baking dish and cook for about 45 to 50 minutes, until you can pierce the brownie with a fork and it comes out dry. Remove the tray and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes ― this is really important, as it needs this time to stick together!
While the brownies are cooking, make the icing. Simply melt all the ingredients together and stir well. Place the mixture in the freezer for 15 minutes and then the fridge for another 15 to firm it up a bit.
Remove the brownies from the tray and leave to cool completely before icing ― otherwise your icing will melt! Spread the icing on top, cut into squares, dig in and enjoy!