Sweet Potato & Black Bean Brownies

3 sweet potato and black bean brownies stacked on top of each other

Rich and fudgy, chocolate brownies.

Course Sweet

Cuisine American

Keyword black beans, brownies, sweet potato

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 50

Cooling 10

Total Time 1 15

Servings

Calories 130kcal

Author Lauren

Ingredients

350 g sweet potato, unpeeled & cut into 1 inch pieces (Note 1)
2 tbsp light extra virgin olive oil (Note 2)
1 tin black beans
1 large egg
8 medjool dates
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk, low fat
1/2 cup wholemeal flour (Note 3)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tbsp psyllium husk powder (Note 4)

Cups - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F.
Line a medium baking tray with baking paper. Coat the sweet potato with 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil and place onto the baking tray. Roast the sweet potato into the oven for 25 minutes or until cooked, turning half way to prevent burning. Once cooked, remove from the oven and place to the side to cool. Cut away any burnt pieces.
Put medjool dates into a small bowl and cover with hot water for 10 minutes or until they are soft. Cut the Medjool dates down the centre, remove the pits and put them to the side.
Open the tin of black beans and empty the contents into a fine sieve, rinse under cold water until the liquid runs clear.
Place the cooled sweet potato, black beans, Medjool dates, egg, remaining 1.5 tablespoons of light extra virgin olive oil, vanilla extract and milk into a food processor. Blitz until smooth.
Add the wholemeal flour, cocoa powder and psyllium husk powder to the food processor and blitz until combined.
Grease and line a brownie tray (I used the Wiltshire brownie tray, which is 27.5cm x 17.5cm), pour the brownie mixture into the tray and push it into the corners with a spatula. If you want your brownies to have a flat top, lightly coat an angled cake palate knife in extra virgin olive oil and gently drag it across the surface until it is smooth.
Place the tray in the preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or under a skewer inserted in the centre comes out with crumbs clinging.
Put the pan to the side and cool for roughly 30 minutes. Remove the brownies from the tray and cool fully on a cake rack. Cut into 15 squares

Notes

Sweet Potato - The skin of the sweet potato has a lot of dietary fibre and other nutrients, and removing it means we miss out on those benefits. As the sweet potato gets blitzed in the food processor, you won't be able to tell the skin was left on.
Extra virgin olive oil - You want to use extra virgin olive oil that is light in flavour only, that way you get all the benefits without the flavour impacting the brownies. I used Cobram Estate's light extra virgin olive oil.
Wholemeal Flour - I used ‘The Healthy Baker’ wholemeal flour as it has more dietary fibre than other brands of wholemeal flour. This recipe would work regular wholemeal flour, but the amount of dietary fibre would decrease to about 4.7g per serve.
Psyllium Husk Powder – Is a great way to boost the amount of dietary fibre, particularly for baking recipes. Psyllium husk powder is not the cheapest at $16 for 450g from Coles, but if you're only using 1 tablespoon in a recipe, it works out 30 serves at 53 cents per recipe. However, this recipe works fine if you want to leave it out, but the brownies will drop down to 4.1g of dietary fibre per serve.
Storage - Should last in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. Otherwise, store the brownies in the freezer in an airtight container; they should keep for up to three months.
Nutrition - Calculated per serve, assuming 15 serves.

Nutrition