I’m SO EXCITED to share this recipe with you all. Nothing beats warm, fudgy brownies straight out of the oven in my books, absolutely nothing! And these incredibly delicious sweet potato maca hemp brownies are absolutely no exception!
If you haven’t heard of sweet potato brownies before, welcome to my world! These are brownies with a bit of a healthy twist. They use sweet potato for the fudgy and sweet factor, as well as being a great source of vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, potassium and fiber – win, win really!
For even more of a healthy twist we’ve added in hemp flour and maca powder into the mix for even more health benefits.
Maca powder – the great mood booster
These little beauties have the incredible combination of not just cacao (which is well known for its mood boosting qualities) but maca root as well. Some of the benefits of maca root include help manage mood, increase energy, reduce symptoms of menopause for women, increase bone density, increased libido and increased fertility in men. It’s a great health superfood all rounder! You can find out more about maca root in this article from Forbes.
Hemp flour
Another bonus of this recipe is that hemp is incredibly sustainable. Hemp in general is a crop that takes far less water to grow than many other food crops. It’s naturally resistant to diseases, fungi, pests and it regenerates the soil it’s grown in! Not to mention that it even helps filter carbon dioxide from the hair. So if you’re looking for a planet friendly product, specifically protein supplement if you’re on a plant based diet, hemp protein could be a good one for you.
Types of Hemp Protein
There are different types of hemp proteins out there, the main two I’ve experimented with are hemp gold protein or another favourite (and the one used in this recipe) is the woolworths macro brand of hemp protein.
The main difference I’ve found between the gold and the regular version is the colour and maybe a little bit of taste. The gold protein is great if you’re baking and wanting to keep the look of your creation light in colour. The regular dark hemp protein I also find to be a bit denser, and even a little grainy at times (not a bad thing, just different!). I used the regular dark hemp protein in this recipe, as the brownies are already dark and dense, so just maximizing those health benefits!
Variations
Everyone likes to personalize their own brownie just a little bit. I’ll try to give you some inspiration here to make it yours, but get as creative as you like!
- Peanut butter drizzle – you can always swirl through some natural runny peanut butter through the top of the mix before baking, delicious!
- Raspberries – I do this regularly, adding in some frozen berries to the mix just gives that pop of tartness.
- Cacao nibs – haven’t gotten enough chocolate fix? A few cacao nibs on top give a bit of a crunch to the mix.
- Coconut – shreds of coconut on the top would give this recipe a coconutty twist.
- Frosting/drizzle – you can go indulgent on this one or just keep it healthy. As mentioned in the recipe below you can always take out some of the mix prior to baking and use this as frosting. Trust me! It works better than you can imagine! Alternatively make a good chocolate gnache and drizzle over.
- Changing flours – to make this recipe gluten free, you can always sub in the oat flour for your gluten free flour of choice.
So with that, get baking and enjoy! I hope you all enjoy this receipe as much as I do!
Sweet Potato Maca Hemp Brownies
Equipment
- 1 loaf tin/brownie tin
- baking paper
- baking tray
- Mixing bowl
- Potato masher
- Spatula
- spoon
- Alfoil (for roasting potatoes)
Ingredients
- 1 cup sweet potato (roasted, peeled and blended or mashed)
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup almond butter or peanut butter
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup cacao powder
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2/3 cup oat flour
- 1/2 cup chopped raw walnuts
- 1 TBSP maca powder
- 3 TBSP hemp protein powder
Instructions
- First make your sweet potato puree. Cover your potatoes with aluminum foil and place into a preheated oven at 210 degrees. Cook your potato for approximately 30-40 minutes or until you can prick your potato and it is soft on the inside.
- Take out sweet potato, let cool for 10 minutes and then take off the skins to have your cooked potato.
- To your blender (or just mix in a bowl, but blended makes them lovely and smooth), add sweet potato purée, maple syrup, almond butter, vanilla extract. Mash with your potato masher and combine.
- Once blended or mixed then add cacao powder and sea salt – (quick tip, if you scoop out some of the batter at this point and place in the fridge, it can make for a delicious frosting!)
- Now add baking powder and oat flour and stir or blend until thick.
- Transfer batter to your brownie tin – I would suggest only spreading your batter approximately 1 inch thick or less, any thicker your brownies may not cook.
- Bake on the middle rack at 180degrees for 30 minutes or so. Turn off your oven and let sit in the oven for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Eat straight away or refrigerate and add on your sweet potato frosting on top. You can also serve with coconut cream, raspberries, melted chocolate or any other condiment you might like!
