Sweet potato brownies

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This article was published 18/12/2010 (5751 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Day 16 of the Free Press’s 21 Days of Holiday Cookies features Sweet potato brownies. We will be publishing one cookie recipe every day — Monday to Saturday — till Christmas.

Stephanie Behl sends in a recipe for her favourite bar, an intriguing cross between a brownie and a blondie that gets rich colour and texture from sweet potatoes.

Sweet Potato Brownies

250 ml (1 cup) mashed sweet potatoes or yams

113 g (½ cup) butter or margarine, softened

500 ml (2 cups) white sugar

5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla 4 eggs

375 ml (1-½ cups) all-purpose flour

7 ml  (1-½ tsp.) cinnamon

60 ml (¼ cup) mini chocolate chips (optional)

Icing sugar for decoration

To yield 250 ml (1 cup) mash, peel and chop 1-2 medium yams or sweet potatoes and boil until tender, about 20-25 minutes. Drain thoroughly and mash until smooth.

Preheat oven to 150C (300F). Grease a 22 x 22 (9 x 9 in) baking pan. (For ease of removal, line the greased pan with parchment paper that overhangs on two ends and then grease the paper.) Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add sweet potatoes, vanilla and eggs and mix well. In a small bowl, whisk together flour and cinnamon.

Add to butter mixture and mix well. Add chocolate chips, if using. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes.

Sprinkle with icing sugar and cool on rack.

Tester’s notes: Not as chewy as many brownies, these bars have an eggy moistness and a nice, not-too-sweet taste.

Stephanie likes to serve these treats warm with ice cream and cinnamon, but they’re also great cold. If you want to get fancy, you could add a cream cheese icing.

To see previous cookie recipes, visit www.winnipegfreepress. com/special/cookies.

Alison Gillmor
Writer

Studying at the University of Winnipeg and later Toronto’s York University, Alison Gillmor planned to become an art historian. She ended up catching the journalism bug when she started as visual arts reviewer at the Winnipeg Free Press in 1992.

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