Dark Chocolate (Sweet Potato) Brownies

Dark Chocolate (Sweet Potato) Brownies

Considering my kids have been taking these delicious treats to school all week for snacks, I thought I would finally post the recipe I have been making over and over again this past month because we my family and I keep devouring them.  I am not sure where exactly I first saw the recipe that gave me the idea to try sweet potato as the base for this brownie, but I am so glad I did.  I love a dark, fudgy brownie, and this is now my definite new favorite dessert.  It is so simple to make, free of any refined sugar, and packed with hidden nutrition.  Instead of flour, and like the beans in my black bean brownies, the sweet potato in this recipe is the starch that serves as the base for the recipe.  But sweet potatoes have the added benefit of natural sugars as well, so I only have to add 1/4 C. of pure maple syrup to sweeten these brownies perfectly. And sweet potatoes are also full of fiber, calcium, potassium, and vitamins A and C. (1 cup of sweet potato actually provides over 370% of your daily vitamin A!). The one thing you need to remember about this recipe however is to let the brownies cool completely before cutting into them.  If you're in a hurry, like I often am, you can refrigerate them once they are partially cool, but if you cut them too soon, they will not come out of the pan well.  I have thought of adding an egg or two the next time around to see if it helps bind them, but am reluctant to mess up something that is so perfect as is.  I have been storing mine wrapped individually in the freezer to grab on the way out for snacks, but they should last up to 4 or 5 days in the fridge as well.

Walnut Brownie Cookies

Walnut Brownie Cookies

I have definitely found my favorite dessert.  If you are like me and love dark chocolate, and like it to be extra dense, rich and fudgy, then these treats are for you.  And if you look at the ingredient list, you can easily see another reason why they are my favorite: they are a big bite of health disguised as a cookie.  The main ingredient is raw walnuts, sweetened with raw honey, coconut oil and cocoa powder.  Walnuts are honestly one of the healthiest foods on the planet and an everyday staple in my kitchen.  They are full of "rare and powerful antioxidants" and are proven to promote heart health and reduce cancer risk.* You do need a food processor to make these from scratch, but I am sure you could use a store bought walnut butter if you had to. I promise that if you try these cookies just once, you will be hooked and want to share the recipe with everyone you meet.

* http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/05/19/7-walnuts-benefits.aspx

Chocolate Fudge Pie

Chocolate Fudge Pie

Chocolate. If you follow my blog, you know how much I LOVE chocolate.  So whether it is Christmas Eve, like today, or May, when I actually made this, a chocolate pie is always a crowd pleaser.  This is a twist on a fudge pie recipe that I saw on television once, but using organic ingredients, dark chocolate (antioxidants!!) and my favorite Coconut Oil Pie Crust (using whole wheat pastry flour).  So of course not a healthy food that you can eat everyday, but this is the Holidays, so I thought it was a perfect time to share one of my all time favorite ways to eat chocolate.

Raspberry Fudge Cookies

Raspberry Fudge Cookies

Best Cookies Ever.  Just saying.  This recipe is adapted from one a friend of mine posted on Facebook awhile back called "Raspberry Cream Cookies." * Since my son is not as big a fan of dark chocolate as I am and that recipe called for white chocolate chips, I thought I would give it a try.  I changed it up with whole grain flour, of course, and they were delicious.  So good in fact that I made another batch to bring in for my son's 9th birthday party at school the following week. But even though I myself actually liked them, I knew that if I added dark chocolate chips instead or made them with cocoa powder baked in they would be even better.

It has been a couple of months since then and I have finally gotten around to trying out my dark chocolate version of the original recipe.  I had a feeling they would be good, but I had NO IDEA how good.  They are certainly not the most healthy dessert I have featured on here, but to their credit, they are made entirely out of whole wheat flour, have high fiber and antioxidant rich raspberries in them, and I replaced some of the butter with coconut oil. They also have dark cocoa and ground flax seed, so while not being a "health food", they are definitely a lot better for you than you would ever think after tasting them.  They are rich, fudgy, chewy, decadent and addictive (be careful!).  I will definitely be making these again soon!  Enjoy!!!

* http://www.anecdotesandapples.com/raspberry-cream-cookies-and-36-weeks

Raspberry Fudge Sauce

Raspberry Fudge Sauce
over vanilla Greek frozen yogurt
with fresh raspberries

Chocolate and raspberry is a fabulous combination.  So when I saw the pints of Greek frozen yogurt and organic vanilla ice cream in the back of my freezer left over from the end of the summer, I had an idea.  What if I try to make my own hot fudge, slightly healthier than the usual and have protein rich sundaes for dessert? I knew that a basic hot fudge recipe calls for dark chocolate, sugar, butter and cream, so I used that as my base but changed it around.  The almond butter adds in healthy fats and protein, the maple syrup is a nutrient rich sweetener and the raspberries add tons of vitamins, antioxidants and fiber. The sauce is a bit thick, and could certainly be thinned out with a bit of cream or half and half, but I personally enjoyed the texture of not only the chewy chocolate as it hardened, but the raspberry bits as well.  Indulge in this after dinner treat and feel good about dessert!!