Hairy Bikers sweet potato brownies fold roasted sweet potato mash into a dark chocolate batter, along with bourbon-soaked raisins, pecans and chocolate chips. And following their BBC Food recipe, you get 12 in about 3 hours with cooling, at 555 calories each by my sums.
The pair made these on their Route 66 series, in the episode from Oklahoma City to Amarillo, after visiting an organic sweet potato farm. And the sweet potato goes in twice, once mashed into the batter and once as sticky maple-glazed chunks.
The skewer test matters most, and the BBC Food method wants it “sticky, not clean or covered in wet batter” at about 30 minutes. So I’d trust that over the timer, because a batter this heavy with mash and fruit may need a few minutes either way.
Hairy Bikers Sweet Potato Brownies Recipe
Description
Butter creamed with sugar and eggs goes into roasted sweet potato mash, followed by melted dark chocolate and a cocoa mix with pecans and chips. Then bourbon raisins and maple-glazed chunks are folded in, and a drizzle of dark and white chocolate goes on once cooled.
Ingredients
For the brownies
For the caramelised sweet potato
For the soaked raisins
To decorate
Instructions
- Roast the whole sweet potatoes: Heat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6. Then prick the whole sweet potatoes with a sharp knife and roast for 40 to 45 minutes until tender.
- Mash: Leave them to cool, then peel and mash until smooth. Then weigh out 150g of the mash, mix it with the vanilla and set it aside in a large mixing bowl.
- Caramelise the chunks: Meanwhile, put the sweet potato chunks, butter and maple syrup in a lidded pan with a splash of water and a generous pinch of salt. Cook over a medium heat until the butter melts, then cover and cook gently for 5 minutes until al dente. Then uncover, turn up the heat and stir until the liquid reduces and the chunks look sticky, then set them aside to cool.
- Soak the raisins: Meanwhile, put the raisins in a saucepan with the bourbon and bring to the boil. Then simmer until the raisins are plump and most of the liquid is absorbed, and leave them to cool.
- Line and melt: Line a 23cm square tin with baking paper and make sure the oven is back at 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6. Then melt the 200g of dark chocolate in a bowl over simmering water, stirring now and then, and let it cool a little.
- Cream and mix: Beat the butter and sugar in a stand mixer until soft, fluffy and aerated, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Then mix the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in another bowl with the pecans and chocolate chips.
- Combine: Mix the butter, sugar and egg mixture into the sweet potato mash, then fold in the melted chocolate. Then stir in the dry mix and the bourbon raisins, before gently folding in the maple sweet potato.
- Bake: Scrape into the tin and bake for around 30 minutes, until the top has set and looks dry. And a skewer should come out sticky, not clean or covered in wet batter.
- Finish: Leave to cool completely, allowing about an hour, then melt the dark and white chocolate for decorating and drizzle it over. Then cut into squares, or keep them until the next day, when they taste at their best.
FAQs
Can I leave out the bourbon?
Yes, though their method gives no alcohol-free swap, so I’d simmer the raisins in apple juice instead. But the bourbon batch isn’t one for children, because simmering only drives off some of the alcohol.
Are sweet potato brownies healthier?
Not these, because 400g of chocolate, 200g of butter and 200g of sugar still go in. And the sweet potato is there for flavour and a fudgy middle rather than to cut calories.
So if you want a lighter treat, their Hairy Dieters apple cake is a better bet at 229 calories a slice.
How long do they keep?
They taste best the day after baking, so I’d make them a day ahead and cut them once the drizzle has set. Then keep them in an airtight tin and eat them within 3 days, which is my own guide.
How are these different from their other brownies?
These follow their Biker brownies with hazelnuts, with butter creamed with sugar and melted dark chocolate. But the oven is hotter, at 200°C rather than 170°C conventional, and the tin is a 23cm square rather than 30 x 20cm.
And their cherry pecan brownies share the pecans, though in that recipe the butter is melted and the chocolate goes in only as chunks.
Are these American brownies?
Very much so, because sweet potato, pecans, maple and bourbon are classic American flavours. And sweet potato and pecans are both Thanksgiving favourites in the States, from sweet potato casserole to pecan pie.
