Chocolate swirled blondies…that go with a bang!
Today I am very happy! It sometimes easy to underestimate how others may respond to a recipe, I worry that my tastes are different and that just because I enjoy my cakes- other people who are used to ‘normal’ cakes may not.
However, this time it can most definitely be said that these Blondies achieve top marks in the taste test!
The basic idea of including sweet potato came from a recipe in the highly regarded book ‘Vegan Cookies Invade your Cookie Jar’, however I wanted to take healthy to greater heights! This was a risk and I knew it! The plan was to make some cakes to take along to my friend’s fireworks party, so I knew I’d need to pull out all the stops to get it right.
There sat my plate of Blondies in amongst all the other non-vegan, non-healthy delicacies that had brought to the party....and by the end of the night… they had all disappeared! No one had guessed the secret ingredients and what’s more one of the guests at the party was diabetic and was so pleased upon realising he could eat my cake without any worry!
This first batch was made using spelt flour, but I figured since the amount of flour was already fairly low (as I’d subbed part of the flour for the chickpeas) it should be fairly simple to make a gluten free version. I was on a role and so this morning I couldn’t resist making another batch for myself- this time with my favourite GF combo.
The result… I think I like the GF blondies even better!!
Recipe: Chocolate marbled blondies
Makes 16 squares
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked mashed sweet potato
- ¼ cup soy yoghurt
- 3 tbs water
- 1/3 cup coconut butter
- ¼ cup agave plus ½ tsp stevia
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup white spelt flour (or GF subs below)
- ½ cup mashed chickpeas
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- A pinch salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
- NB: GF flour substitute- 1/3 cup each of almond meal, buckwheat flour, tapioca flour
Method
Blend wet ingredients in food processor until very smooth. Pour into a bowl, add dry ingredients (except choc chips) and blend together well mixed. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon mixture into a parchment lined 8x8 baking tin and smooth the top. Bake in oven at 180C for approx. 15 mins. Note- GF timings may be slightly shorter- check with a toothpick and remove when almost cooked. Allow to cool fully before slicing into squares.
Note- if the mixture is still slightly warm (from the sweet potato not being totally cool) the choc chips will melt slightly giving the batter a ‘marbled' effect. This was a happy accident which I actually love, but if you want to chocolate chunks to stay solid and the batter to remain ‘blonde’ than allow the potato to cool fully before mixing.
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