No-Added-Sugar Sweet Potato Brownie

📝 Ingredients

• 400 g sweet potato (1 large one of about 500 g before peeling)
• 150 g pitted Medjool dates (about 8 dates)
• 150 ml boiling water (to soften the dates)
• 3 eggs
• 50 g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 60 g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 40 g walnut halves
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of salt

🍴 Utensils

• Saucepan
• Colander
• Stick blender or blender
• Mixing bowl
• 20 cm square tin and baking paper
• Flexible spatula

📖 Steps

1. Peel the sweet potato and cut it into 2 cm cubes. Drop them into a pan of boiling water and cook for 15 min over medium heat, until the tip of a knife slides in with no resistance at all.
2. Meanwhile, cover the pitted dates with the 150 ml boiling water and leave to soften for 10 min. Preheat the oven to 180 °C (170 °C fan) and line the tin with baking paper, leaving it overhanging the edges.
3. Drain the sweet potato very thoroughly and leave it to steam for 5 min in the colander so the excess water evaporates: a purée that's too wet gives a sticky brownie instead of a fudgy one.
4. Drain the dates, keeping 3 tbsp of their soaking water. Blend the sweet potato, dates, the reserved water and the vanilla to a perfectly smooth purée, with no bits of date left: allow 1 to 2 min.
5. Pour the purée into a mixing bowl and add the eggs one at a time, mixing well with a spatula after each. Add the cocoa, flour, baking powder and salt, then mix just until there are no traces of powder left.
6. Roughly crumble the walnut halves with your fingers and fold them into the batter. Pour into the tin, smooth the top with the spatula and bake for 25 to 30 min, until the edges are firm and the centre still slightly wobbly.
7. Check it's done by inserting the tip of a knife in the centre: it should come out with a few moist crumbs, not runny batter. Don't bake any longer, or the brownie will dry out and lose its fudgy centre.
8. Leave to cool completely in the tin, for at least 1 h: the brownie firms up as it cools and can then be cut neatly. Lift it out using the baking paper and cut into 8 pieces.