Double Chocolate Guinness Brownies

I made these for St. Patrick's Day last month and they were very interesting.

I say "interesting" because I still don't know if I really liked them or not.

I have this incredible brownie recipe that I make as my "usual" so this one was different. Not "different" bad, just "different" different.

The Guinness definitely adds a unique flavor that intensifies the chocolate. I think what threw me off was the whole wheat flour in it. I think next time I would make these with all purpose flour. Not that I don't like whole wheat flour, I just found it overwhelmed the other, more subtle flavors in these.

Double Chocolate Guinness Brownies

(Adapted from Alive Magazine #353, March 2012)

Ingredients

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced (about 1/2 lb)

6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 Tbsp butter

2 eggs

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup baking cocoa powder

1 cup Guinness, room temp

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8 X 8 or a 9 X 9 pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.

Boil sweet potato until very tender. Transfer to a bowl and mash until smooth. Set aside. (You can also microwave the sweet potato until tender and then mash.)

Place chocolate and butter in a metal bowl over pan of barely simmering water. Stir until melted.

Remove from heat and whisk in eggs, one at a time. Gently stir in mashed sweet potato, flour, sugar, cocoa, beer, vanilla, baking powder, salt, and nuts.

Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake at 350 for approximately 20 - 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Do not over bake. (Cooking time will depend on size of pan you use too.)

Let cool to room temp before slicing.

You might notice in the photos that these are frosted. I decide that I needed a little more chocolate on top to hide the whole wheat flour taste a little more. I just mixed together the following:

3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp cocoa
1 cup icing sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

And then spread it on the brownies before I cut them.

 

These are a healthier choice for brownies with much less sugar and fat because of the addition of the sweet potato, and they are tasty in their own way. Like I said above, I would definitely make these again but just change to all purpose flour instead of whole wheat.

Are they my favorite?

No.

Are they interesting?

Yes.