Spicy Sweet Potato Brownies

Hoppy Good Friday everyone! I hope you all have a great Easter long weekend! Before I sign off for some family time the next couple of days, I wanted to share this yummy recipe I came up with a couple of weeks ago. I absolutely love sneaking vegetables into desserts and making sweet treats feel a little less guilty to indulge in. These spicy sweet potato brownies turned out a little thicker than I had wanted (because I don’t have a 9 x 13 baking pan) and have a fluffier texture than typical fudge brownies do. But they’re awfully delicious nontheless.

Dev and I visited the TERRA Winter Market a few weeks ago and stopped at a little booth featuring baked goodies using sweet potato instead of fats. Unfortunately, the indoor market is finished now. It ran from January 13 to March 17 at the Hamilton and Milton locations. But I highly recommend looking into it next year! It’s such a fun way to escape the cold.

Now, I’m getting a bit off track…

After trying the local vendor’s tasty sweet potato brownies, I was inspired to create my own. However, Dev requested that they be spicy!!! He loves the combination of sweet, salty and spicy. So I tossed a finely chopped jalapeño into my mixture and they turned out surprisingly great! Definitely different, but not overwhelmingly spicy. You can’t taste the sweet potatoes – if anything, they add to the sweetness.

I would describe these brownies as more of a spicy and fragrant “bro-loaf”. It’s somewhere in between a brownie and a loaf. With the addition of cinnamon and clove, the flavours are very similar to a pumpkin bread.

Try it for yourself and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:

2 Medium Sweet Potatoes
1 3/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Coconut Sugar
1/2 Cup Canola Oil
1/4 Cup Greek Yogurt
1/4 Cup Honey
2 Eggs
2 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Ground Clove
1/2 Tsp Pink Himalayan Salt (regular salt would be fine)
1 Jalapeño finely chopped (remove the seeds)

Directions:

1. Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into 1 inch pieces. Place in a microwave safe dish with a tablespoon of water. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 8-10 minutes or until the pieces become tender. Mash the potatoes and place the bowl to the side so they can cool.
2. Combine all dry ingredients into a medium sized bowl.
3. Whisk all wet ingredients (excluding the jalapeño and sweet potato) into a large bowl.
4. Stir in the mashed sweet potatoes.
5. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet and combine. You can do this in stages. I added my dry ingredients in three separate amounts.
6. Fold in the finely chopped jalapeño.
7. Pour into a lightly greased 9 x 13 pan. Or if you want thicker brownies like mine, using an 8 x 8 pan).
8. Baked at 350 degrees for 35 minutes (less time for a large pan), until golden brown on the top. A good way of knowing if it’s done is to insert a toothpick in the middle. If very few gooey crumbs stick to it after being removed, it’s done!
9. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before flipping the entire thing upside down and away from the baking pan. Place it onto a cooling rack and wait until it’s completely cooled before cutting into squares.
10. Eat and enjoy!

xxx