Oliver McCabe’s moist chocoholic cranberry and sweet potato brownies

Cocoa powder and cacao powder provide all of the health benefits of chocolate without the calories from added sugars. These powders offer double the amount of antioxidants as a bar of dark chocolate and as much fibre as most fruits and vegetables.

If you’ve not yet benefited from the amazing power of raw cacao, I’ll first list 7 health benefits of adding raw cacao to your diet:

1. Raw cacao helps stimulate your immune system.
2. Raw cacao boosts your energy level because it acts as a stimulant and this will boost your spirits.
3. It can help strengthen your cardiovascular system.
4. It can reduce chronic fatigue and general weakness caused by stress.
5. Pure chocolate is a mood enhancer because it directly stimulates various neurotransmitters in your brain (such as serotonin) to help reduce depression and to give a sense of euphoria or a sense of wellbeing.
6. It is also considered as a mild aphrodisiac as it has shown to increase sexual appetite after regular consumption. Yes, raw cacao brings out the vixen (ladies) and fox (gentlemen) in you!
7. Finally, raw cacao is a powerful superfood that helps regulate your sleep. Cocoa and cacao powder are also rich sources of many essential minerals, including magnesium, copper and iron.

These brownies are made by my sister Hilary every day at Select Stores Dalkey. They’re a real crowd-pleaser. High in vitamin C, vitamin E, dietary fibre, essential fats and protein, low GL as well as sugar-free, dairy-free, gluten-free and vegetarian.

Cranberry and sweet potato brownies
Serves 18

Ingredients

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into large cubes
• 4 large eggs, beaten
• 90ml maple syrup
• 90ml date syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
• 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
• 90ml coconut oil
• 100g ground almonds
• 60g cocoa powder
• 50g cacao powder
• 1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
• 1 teaspoon Himalayan fine rock salt
• 70g dried cranberries Bee pollen, to decorate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4/350ºF. Grease a 20cm x 30cm baking tin.
2. Boil the sweet potatoes in a saucepan of salted water for 30 minutes, until soft. Drain the water off and mash the sweet potatoes.
3. Mix the mashed sweet potato, eggs, maple syrup, date syrup, vanilla paste and vanilla essence in a large bowl. Add in the coconut oil while mixing.
4. In another bowl, mix together the ground almonds, cocoa and cacao powders, baking powder and salt. Add this dry mix to the bowl of wet ingredients and stir until it’s all blended well.
5. Mix in the cranberries, and then pour the batter into the greased baking tin.
6. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Check the brownies with a knife inserted into the centre – if it comes out dry, they are ready to rock and roll.
7. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack, then cut into eighteen squares. Scatter with some bee pollen to make them look even prettier.

This recipe has been extracted from The Fuel Food Cookbook by Oliver McCabe.