Sweet Potato Brownies

The other day my mom accidentally bought sweet potato puree instead of pumpkin puree. Since I didn't have any recipes using sweet potato puree and I wasn't really sure how to use it, I decided to turn to Martha, Martha Stewart I mean.

Since my family is pretty healthy anyways, I thought her recipe for sweet potato brownies looked worthwhile to try. I added in walnuts (which turned out to be a good addition) and they turned out to be immensely fudgey and good tasting brownies that you don't feel icky after eating.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Using good cocoa really
makes a difference.

½ stick butter

2/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder

½ cup whole-wheat pastry flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup sweet-potato puree

1 large egg

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon instant coffee powder

½ cup walnuts

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square pan; set aside. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Remove pan from heat, and stir in cocoa. Let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Stir in sugar and sweet-potato puree, then egg. In a small bowl, stir together vanilla and coffee until coffee is dissolved; add to cocoa mixture.

Add flour mixture to cocoa mixture and stir until no traces of flour remain. Spoon into prepared pan; smooth the top.

Make sure you smooth out the top
before placing in the oven.

Bake until surface of brownies looks barely dry and an inserted knife comes out with a few moist crumbs, about 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature before serving.

To make these more decadent, you could always add in a half cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, but I would suggest you first try them to see if you want that added taste.

Very fudgey with walnut chunks.

Sweet potatoes are actually considered a "super food". One medium-sized sweet potato has ons of beta-carotene and a day's value of vitamin A as well as a third of your daily vitamin C's needs. One sweet potato even has as much fiber as a  ½ cup of oatmeal.

Peanut Butter Brownies

Peanut butter + chocolate = yum.

I have made peanut butter and chocolate treats before but these bars are a little different since they are truly peanut butter, instead of chocolate with peanut butter. 

I added in chocolate chips, but you can make this recipe and completely omit all of the chip to just make peanut butter brownies (which would be great lightly iced).

Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter

2/3 cup margarine, softened

11/3 cups white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup peanut chips

2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.

In a bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and peanut butter. Add in the eggs and vanilla. Afterwards, gradually mix in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Once all these ingredients have been well mixed, mix in the mini semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Make sure to press down the batter evenly into the pan.

Pour this batter into your greased pan and sprinkle the 2/3 cup peanut chips and 2/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips evenly over the top.

Place in the oven for 30-35 minutes and let cool before slicing into bars.

Right before entering the oven.

I made the batter for these during one of my free periods, but didn't have enough time to bake them so I left a sticky note for my mom for when she came home to pop them in the oven. When I came home from school, I went inside thinking I would be able to try them out, but it turned out that my mom hadn't even come home yet. 

Though I had to then wait some more time to preheat the oven and bake the brownies, it was worth it. These were peanut chocolate goodness in every bite. (The edges were my favorite.)

Reese’s Cup Brownie Bites

I was at the local grocery store today which can often have very expensive prices, but behind the counter I saw a special for ½ off holiday candy. I’ve been meaning to bake something with reese’s cups, so when I saw them on sale I quickly snatched them up and whipped up something easy and bite sized that makes great peanut butter cups even better.

Who cares about holiday wrappers
when you're taking them off anyways?

Ingredients:

3/4  cup butter, melted


3/4 cup white sugar


3/4 cup brown sugar, packed


2 teaspoons vanilla extract


2 eggs


3/4 cup all-purpose flour


1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/8 cup chocolate syrup

½ teaspoon salt


40 mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

Directions:

The syrup makes them super moist.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease mini cupcake pans and set aside.  In a medium bowl mix the melted butter, sugars and vanilla, and then beat in the eggs and chocolate syrup. Slowly add the flour, cocoa, and salt and mix everything together.  Fill each cupcake spot until it is about 2/3 of the way full. Finally, insert a peanut butter cup into each cupcake until it is basically in line with the chocolate batter.

Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes and then allow them to cool before removing them from their tins.

The inside was soft and gooey but the top had a light crispiness that tasted soo good. Good for any peanut butter and chocolate lover.

White Chocolate Swirl Brownies

Chunks of white chocolate goodness.

After a total of seven snow days, today finally marked the last day of midterms!

I thought it may be festive to bring in something for our first day as second semester seniors tomorrow so I chose to try a new technique of mixing white and semi-sweet chocolate.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 1/2 sticks softened butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup Cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 plus 2/3 cups white chocolate chips or chunks

2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:

The batter before swirling in the melted white chocolate.

Heat oven to 350°F and grease a 9 x 13 pan. 


Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy and then add the eggs and vanilla and beat these ingredients together well. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt and gradually blend this into the butter mixture. Stir about a cup of white chocolate chips. Spread batter in prepared pan. 


In a small saucepan place 2/3 cup of white chocolate chips and two tablespoons of heavy cream over low heat. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon until melted and sooth. Drop spoonfuls of the melted white chocolate mixture over the chocolate dough that is already in the pan. Afterwards, take a knife and using back and forth strokes, swirl the white chocolate in with the batter.

Bake 30-35 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely and then cut into bars.

They turned out crisp on the edges, but even these parts tasted good. Not exactly the complete swirl look I was going for after they baked on top but the taste was still there and that's what really matters.

Double Decker Toffee Chocolate Brownies

Well I owe my friend Cathy some money, so we decided that if I baked her 3-4 batches of baked goods, that would be sufficient instead of the cash. (I thought this was a pretty good deal). I already made her a recipe with peanut butter so I thought, why not some toffee this time?

I came up with this batch of yummy brownies:

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed light brown sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/4 plus 1/4 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup plus a little more than a 1/4 cup toffee bits

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 13x9 inch pan.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy and then beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add the dry mixture of the 2 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt.

Toffee bits on top, no need to press

them into the dough.

Divide batter in half. Blend the cocoa powder into one half of the dough and spread it evenly into the pan. Melt the 1 tablespoon butter and evenly drizzle and then spread it on top of the chocolate mixture in the pan.

I had to use my hands (just washed

of course) to spread the top

layer evenly over the bottom.

Stir remaining dough with the extra 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/2 cup toffee bits. Heap bits of white dough on top of the chocolate dough and spread the layer evenly. Top with 1/4 cup plus a little more toffee bits on top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, let cool, cut into squares, and dig in!

How good did turn come out?

My friend ate 3 within 2 minutes, enough said.