Sweet Potato Cinnamon Brownies

Have you tried cooking with essential oils? Many pure, therapeutic-grade essential oils can be safely used in cooking and provide amazing flavor! Because essential oils are much more concentrated than the herbs or plants they are derived from, you don’t need to use very much to get the same flavor. There are many cookbooks that are focused on cooking with essential oils to help you learn how much essential oil you should add to your recipes.

The cookbook Everyday Recipes for Everyday Health: Healthy Cooking with Essential Oils by David L. Keeling & Natalie E. Mazzullo is a great place to get started with using essential oils in your food. This cookbook contains over 130 recipes for beverages; weight management shakes; appetizers, soups, salads, side dishes, sauces, and main dishes using beef, chicken, fish, pork, and vegetables; and desserts.

The authors of Everyday Recipes for Everyday Health, David Keeling and Natalie Mazzullo, are both passionate about cooking and healthy eating. They are avid users of essential oils and love incorporating the oils into the food they serve their friends, family, and catering clients. They developed this cookbook so that others could experience how easy it is to cook healthy meals infused with the goodness of pure, therapeutic-grade essential oils.

The following recipe is from Everyday Recipes for Everyday Health and is a popular one at this time of year!

Sweet Potato Cinnamon Brownies

Servings: 12 | Time: 45 minutes | Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients:

Brownies:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 drops cinnamon essential oil
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1 cup cooked sweet potato
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup light extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 6 egg whites

Icing:

• 1/2 cup cream cheese
• 3 Tbsp. honey
• 1 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 drop cinnamon essential oil
• 1 tsp. milk (if icing is too thick)

Instructions:

1. Combine flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon essential oil, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
2. In a food processor or blender, combine sweet potato, honey, olive oil, and vanilla extract, pureeing until smooth.
3. Gradually mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients until combined; do not over mix.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until fluffy. Then, using a rubber spatula, gently fold egg whites into batter.
5. Lightly grease a 9″x 9″ pan. Pour batter into pan, and bake for about 16–18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. Remove pan from oven, and allow brownies to cool to room temperature.
7. While brownies are cooling, prepare icing. In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, honey, cocoa powder, and cinnamon essential oil. Whisk until blended, adding 1 tsp. milk if mixture is too thick.
8. Cover, and refrigerate.

Source: Everyday Recipes for Everyday Health: Healthy Cooking with Essential Oils by David L. Keeling & Natalie E. Mazzullo © 2013 Lessons of the Heart, LLC. All rights reserved. Used with permission.