Healthy Sweet Potato Brownies: A Guilt-Free Treat

As a solo mum I don’t have a lot of time to spend hours making the perfect brownies therefore I needed recipes to be quick, easy and delicious. I need recipes where I can do other things as being a Mum means multitasking wherever you can.

Most of the time I just put things together and hope for the best and this time, this is what I created and this is one of the best thing about cooking/baking. It's all about having fun, trying things out and in my experience I have made some delicious meals, desserts and snacks just by experimenting. I have also made some really awful ones too but we don’t need to talk about them today.

The sweet potato and the banana gives these brownies that natural sweetness without adding the extra sugar or artificial sweeteners and as the dark chocolate chips and cocoa powder can be quite bitter the sweet potato, banana with the chocolate balances each other out perfectly giving that delicious brownie taste.

I used oat flour to bind all of these ingredients together however they do work just as well with all purpose flour if you don't have any oats available or are prefer not to use oats.

The longest part of this recipe is waiting for the Sweet Potato to cook. The sweet potatoes can take up to two hours. They need to be very soft so when you take the skin off the sweet potato the skin should just fall off.

You can use an Air Fryer at 180 degrees this will take less time around 30 - 40 minutes either way you need to ensure once the sweet potato is cooked and very soft you let the sweet potato completely cool before you use it.

Top tip:

Have some sweet potato jackets for dinner one evening and cook the extra potatoes to bake your brownies the next day, which will save you time.

As a solo Mum, time is limited and I need things to be quick and easy and I am sure that if I mixed all the ingredients individually it may turn result in an even more gooey brownie, however as a Mum with limited time I needed a throw it all together, mix, pour, bake, eat and enjoy recipe.

With this recipe I made 8 medium sized brownies, however if you wanted smaller bite size brownies you could easily make 16. (If you make them smaller and are calorie counting adjust the calories accordingly.)

The dark chocolate chips and cocoa powder gives these brownies a dark chocolate rich taste, but with the sweetness of the sweet potato and the sweetness of the banana really balances out this treat. If you don’t have dark chocolate chips you can use a bar of dark chocolate and cut it up into smaller pieces.

Even though this is a delicious treat, having one will satisfy you therefore if you are trying to lose a little weight or just want that chocolate treat without those added sugars this the perfect little treat. As these treats have no added sugar (which usually makes you crave and want more) makes this delicious healthier brownie, one that will hit the spot perfectly without the extra calories or that quick sugar high.

As I wanted these nice and gooey, I only baked them for 20 minutes, when I put a knife or a toothpick into the centre it doesn’t come out completely clean but also you don’t want a lot of the mix on the knife either.

If you prefer not to have them gooey, bake them a little longer. Leave to cool in the tin before removing and cut into 8 pieces, you can serve these on their own or with some delicious red strawberries which is my personal favourite.

These brownies can easily be made Gluten Free by ensuring the oats are Gluten Free, oats are gluten free however some packets of oats can be processed in the same environment as other gluten products. Therefore if being completely Gluten Free is something you prefer or need, look for oats which state on the packaging they are gluten free and made in a gluten free environment.

They can also be made Vegan by ensuring the chocolate you use is vegan friendly including cocoa powder. Most dark chocolate and cocoa powder are vegan however it is always worth checking the ingredients to ensure no milk fat or other animal products have been used.

These brownies are also great for kids, if your children do not like dark chocolate you can use milk chocolate. Dark chocolate has less sugar and has more antioxidants which makes it a healthier brownie.

Blender or Food Processor

Baking Tray

Square Cake Tin (silicone tray would be even better and easier to remove)

Baking Parchment

Bowl

Spoons

Weighing scales to measure out your ingredients (unless you want to guess)

To make the oat flour you will need a blender or food processor - you can buy oat flour already done for you however it is much cheaper to purchase rolled oats (gluten free if you need to). Add the oats to the blender or processor for less than 30 seconds to make a flour. It's so easy.

Time: 2 hour 35 minutes

Servings: 8

Calories: 83 Kcal each

Ingredients

80g rolled oats or oat flour (choose Gluten Free oats if needed)

123g Mashed bananas (around two medium sized bananas)

135g cooked sweet potato (two large potatoes)

15g cocoa powder

1sp Vanilla essence

20g Dark Chocolate chips

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, line a baking tray with parchment paper

Pierce holes in the sweet potato, wrap in foil and bake in the oven for 1 - 2 hours until they are very soft. Once cooked, remove from the foil and leave to cool completely. (Can use Air Fryer if preferred for 30 - 40 minutes at 180 degrees)

Place the rolled oats in a blender or food processor and blitz into a flour

Once the sweet potatoes are cool, remove the skin and add the sweet potatoes into a bowl along with the mashed banana, cocoa powder, oat flour and vanilla essence and mix.

Add half of the dark chocolate chips and mix again.

Pour the mix into a the lined squared baking tin and smooth out evenly

Add the rest of the dark chocolate chips on the top of the brownie mix

Place in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes

To test if they are cooked to your liking, place a toothpick or knife into the middle of the brownie. It should come out with a little of the mixture on as this will make a nice gooey brownie. If you prefer not to have them gooey in the centre just cook for a little longer.

These can be placed in the fridge for three - four days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. These are so delicious I doubt they will need to be put in the freezer or last three to four days.

These are my Sweet Potato and banana Gooey Chocolate Brownies. If you give these a try share your photos with me on my Facebook page - Solo Mum to One

Until next time

Rachel x