Healthy sweet potato brownies

Huh? Brownies made of sweet potato? Yes you read it right, girls! Sports model Elze-Mieke is sharing a recipe for healthy brownies that contain, among other things, sweet potato. This makes them the ultimate healthy alternative to regular brownies. The recipe is based on that of Rens Kroes, and as well as being healthier, they are also vegan, gluten- and lactose-free. Mmm ... 

Healthy Sweet Potato Brownies

INGREDIENTS

• sweet potatoes (about 400g)
• vegan margarine
• 60 g  hazelnuts
• 40 g buckwheat flour
• 5 tbsp of raw cacao powder
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp vanilla powder (unsweetened)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 160 g pitted dates
• 1 handful of walnuts

Topping

• Piece vegan or dark chocolate (note: dark is not vegan and lactose free)

PREPARATION

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them in half lengthwise. Brush with a thin layer of vegan margarine and put them in the oven for 20 minutes or until they are cooked and soft. You have to be able to cut through them easily with your knife.
3. Leave the oven on at 180°C. Allow the potatoes to cool.
4. Optional: toast the hazelnuts and walnuts briefly on a low heat in a frying pan until light brown colours occur on the nuts. Personally, I think this gives then more flavour. Let them cool down on a plate quickly.
5. Add the hazelnuts to a food processor and grind until fine. Don't have a food processor to chop them finely? Place a tea towel on a hard surface area and lay a piece of parchment paper over it, lay out the hazelnuts, fold the parchment paper over it and the towel too, then crush the nuts finely with a rolling pin or other solid utensil.
6. Put the chopped hazelnuts in a bowl, add the buckwheat flour, five generous tablespoons of cacao, ginger, vanilla and cinnamon powder and a pinch of sea salt and stir to combine.
7. Put the dates in a food processor until a paste. Put the cooled sweet potatoes in a food processor and grind finely. Add the dates and the sweet potatoes in a bowl and mix together. Again, if you have no food processor, use a potato masher to mash and combine the mixture.
8. Spoon the potato mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture and combine everything together into a smooth dough.
9. Add the walnuts to the dough and knead it.
10. Place a piece of baking paper into a baking dish, grease it with some vegan margarine, place the dough in it and make the top flat with a spatula or your hands. I do not use a baking dish, so instead I shape my mix into a rectangle on a greased cookie sheet.
11. Put into the oven for 30 minutes.
12. Prick the brownie with a fork or skewer to check if the dough is cooked. If the skewer is clean and not sticky take out of the and leave the brownie to cool for 10 minutes before cutting into pieces.
13. Melt a piece of vegan or dark chocolate in a pan and drizzle over your brownies to decorate.

And enjoy your healthy brownies!

Look for more recipes on www.elze-mieke.com  and check out her Instagram account @elzemiek.tijl for more inspiration.