Sweet Potato Brownie Bites

Sweet Potato Brownie Bites

Lately I’ve been battling my sweet tooth. This largely means I awake every day with a fresh resolve to conquer the urge to shove whatever sugary morsels are within arm’s reach into my mouth with abandon. With few exceptions, by nightfall I’ve generally had to admit my defeat.

It seems the allure of those chocolate chip cookies, or lemon wedges, or chocolate mint chips, or orange slices, or toffees, or ice cream sandwiches, or peanut butter cups, or, yanno, whatever delectable treat crosses my path is too much to resist something like 87.5% of the time (+/- a 12.5% margin of error).

So maybe it’s time to reevaluate my battle. Generally speaking, I’m ok with allowing myself a bit of indulgence. I eat well most of the time and am active enough to feel justified in a having a little treat now and then. The problems arise when those ‘little treats’ come in the form of highly-processed, unmeasured morsels. Then I’m dealing with the issue of both quantity and quality.

So yesterday, when I found a link to an article about hiding your veggies in your desserts, it hit me that I should probably stop fighting myself and admit that sweets are part of my life. At least, though, I can try to make my indulgences fall somewhat in line with the rest of my eating habits.

Enter: Sweet Potato Brownie Bites

(Recipe below as I prepared it. See link above for original.)

Servings: 24
Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 2 per Brownie Bite

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup sweet-potato puree (or one medium sweet potato, boiled skin on, and pureed)
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

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Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two mini-cupcake tins; 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.

Add vanilla to cocoa mixture. Then add flour mixture to cocoa mixture and stir until no traces of flour remain. Spoon into prepared pans; smooth the top. Bake until surface of brownies looks barely dry and an inserted knife comes out with a few moist crumbs, about 12 minutes. Cool to room temperature before serving.