I am all for finding new and creative ways to top up my family's veggie intake and what better way to disguise a serving of veggie than to put it in a delicious chocolate brownie?

The soft, creamy texture of cooked sweet potato makes it the perfect inclusion in sweet treats without the kids suspecting a thing. And with current statistics indicating that more than 90% of Australians are not getting enough fruit and vegetables in their diets to meet dietary guidelines, we could all do with extra veg. Really, once you try one of these brownies, you will not need any further persuasion.

This recipe calls for either orange sweet potato or white-fleshed/purple-skin sweet potato. I have used both for this recipe, finding the white-fleshed potato to be a little sweeter, meaning you don’t need to add as much sweetener to the mix. Both types work well though and have the same nutritional benefits, so it’s personal preference really. The end product looks the same.

The added pleasure of this recipe is that you can add ‘mix ins’ to really make these brownies personal. While I have gone with cacao nibs for that little hint of specialness, you can mix it up and use whatever added ingredients you wish, just add about a half a cup of your optional extra ingredient once you have combined all your other ingredients. Examples of inclusions to try are choc chips, walnuts, inca berries, macadamia nuts, cranberries, raisins.

You will need a standard sized (23cm) square baking tin for this recipe, yielding about 18 squares.

GF | NF | DF

Ingredients

1 & 1⁄2 medium sweet potato – 2 cups when finely grated
1⁄4 cup rice malt syrup (or honey)
1⁄2 cup extra virgin coconut oil
2 (700g) free-range eggs
2 teaspoon of natural vanilla extract (or seeds from one large vanilla pod)
1⁄2 cup raw cacao powder
1 tsp baking powder
2 1⁄2 tbsp. coconut flour, sifted
1⁄2 cup of ‘mix in’ option (cacao nibs, choc chips, nuts, seeds etc)\

Method

1. Line the square baking tin with baking paper, ensuring the paper rises at least 1 inch up the side of the tin.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 ̊ for at least 10 minutes prior to popping in the brownie mix to ensure the oven is really hot.
3. Grate the sweet potato very finely. I like to use a food processor with the tiny grater blade. The finer the better. Mine ends up looking more like potato mash than grated potato.
4. Mix the sweet potato (including the juices that escape when grating), eggs, vanilla, rice malt syrup (or honey) until well combined.
5. Melt the coconut oil and add to the wet mixture. Combine really well.
6. Add sifted cacao and baking powder to the wet mixture, stirring well before finally adding the sifted coconut flour 1 tbsp at a time. If the mixture looks a little dry after the 1st tbsp, then don’t add any more.
7. Fold through your choice of ‘mix ins’ to the brownie batter and then pour into the baking tin.
8. Cook for 30 minutes in a moderate oven until a nice crust forms on the outside and an inserted skewer comes out slightly moist.
9. Leave to sit for 10 minutes before removing from the tin and slicing into squares.

Enjoy!

This is a corker of a slice to make for school lunchboxes – and there are no nuts in this recipe.

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