Chocolate Brownies Paleo Style And No Guilt

Our beautiful daughter arrived home as a complete surprise to me on the weekend, so all immediate plans, such as cooking, gardening, reading etc were laid to rest. However, before long we were in the kitchen preparing food, Paleo style, as she had just signed up with a fitness trainer at the gym, who had suggested the Paleo diet for two weeks in preparation for her new fitness regime. To put it simply, Paleo involves no lactose, gluten, sugar or refined products, but plenty of meat, vegetables, honey, coconut and vegetable based products. It involves a lot more of course, and there is a lot written about it if you wish to do your own research.

We enjoyed a beautiful day out at the beaches, only 20 minutes from home, when I decided we live in Paradise in the North at this time of the year, and then besides some movie watching and catching up, the weekend revolved around cooking and food, as it always does at our place.

One of the highlights from the kitchen on the weekend was this no guilt Paleo Chocolate Brownie cake, based on raw white sweet potato, cacao, and coconut flour. Delicious! So a trip to the health food shop for the coconut flour and cacao, purchase of the sweet potato, and we were set.

We didn't make the dark chocolate topping this time, mainly because we forgot to buy the dark chocolate, however the chocolate Brownie with a cuppa doesn't really need it. If serving it as a dessert, I would certainly adorn the cake with the melted chocolate sauce and berries.

Ingredients:

1 medium raw white sweet potato, peeled and grated (Use your food processor, or use the larger holes of the grater)
2 whole free range eggs
2 tsp real vanilla extract ( I used Queen vanilla bean paste with vanilla seeds) the real kind.This lasts forever in the frig.
1/2 cup of raw or good honey (melt it in the microwave if it is too thick)
1 heaped tbsp. of gluten free baking powder ( I just used normal baking powder)
1/2 tbsp. baking soda (bicarb. of soda)
1 cup of Cacao Powder (unsweetened cocoa powder) from the Health food shop
2 tbsp. coconut flour
1 block dark chocolate (optional for a melted chocolate topping)

Let's cook:

1. Preheat oven to 185 deg.C, or 365 deg F, make sure the oven is hot before you put in the brownies.
2. Combine grated sweet potato, eggs, vanilla, honey and olive oil oil in a large mixing bowl and stir together until well mixed. Then add baking powder and baking soda and stir. Add cacao, mix and finally add coconut four.. Avoid adding too much coconut flour as it will absorb too much moisture which will result in drier brownies.
3. After stirring everything together pour the mixture into a baking tray greased with a little olive oil. I used a square tin with the thickness of the layer at about 1 inch high.If the mixture is too high, the middle may not cook.
4. Cook for 25-30 minutes. Remove the tin and cool for 5-10 minutes before carefully removing the brownie cake from the tin. Leave the brownie cake to cool down before cutting.If the bottom sticks a little, remove it from the cake a quarter at a time.
5. Finally, melt some dark chocolate in a bowl over boiling water or in a microwave. Use a spatula to drizzle and spread melted chocolate over the top. Slice into individual serving squares.You can also top them with raspberries or strawberries.

So to the readers, have you tried any Paleo recipes, and have you started using vegetables as a substitute for ordinary flours etc in your cooking?

(This recipe is adapted from the Eat, Drink Paleo website.)