Brainy Brownies

Submitted by zoe85

"These are a hit! The kids don't even know their eating blueberries or spinach."

 

• Ready In: 50mins
• Ingredients: 18
• Serves: 10

ingredients

• 88.74 ml unsalted butter
• 177.44 ml semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 large eggs
• 9.85 ml pure vanilla extract
• 118.29 ml sugar
• 59.14 ml flour, plus
• 29.58 ml flour
• 59.14 ml rolled oats, ground in a food processor
• 14.79 ml unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1.23 ml salt
• butter or nonstick cooking spray

• Purple Puree (use 1/2 cup)

• 709.77 ml baby spinach leaves (or 2 cups frozen chopped spinach, or frozen chopped collard greens)
• 354.88 ml blueberries
• 4.92 ml lemon juice
• 44.37-59.16 ml water

• flour blend

• 236.59 ml all-purpose unbleached white flour
• 236.59 ml whole wheat flour
• 236.59 ml unsweetened wheat germ

directions

1. If using raw spinach, thoroughly wash it, even if the package says “prewashed.” Bring spinach or collards and water to boil in a medium pot. Turn heat to low and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
2. If using frozen blueberries, quickly rinse them under cold water to thaw a little, and then drain.
3. Fill the bowl of your food processor with the blueberries and cooked spinach, (or collards) along with the lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of water, and puree on high until as smooth as possible. Stop occasionally to push top contents to bottom. If necessary, add the rest of the water to make a fairly smooth puree.
4. This amount of spinach and blueberries makes only about 1 cup of puree. Double the recipe if you want to store another cup of the puree. It will store in the refrigerator up to 2 days, or you can freeze 1/4 cup portions in sealed plastic bags or small plastic containers.
5. Combine this purple egg mixture with the cooled chocolate mixture.
6. Combine the flours and wheat germ in a bowl. This blend can be stored in a sealed, labeled plastic bag for months.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
8. Butter or spray only the bottom, not the sides, of a 13-by- 9-inch or 9-inch square baking pan.
9. Melt the butter and chocolate chips together in a double boiler or metal bowl over simmering water (or in a microwave, checking every 15 seconds). Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool a bit.
10. Meanwhile, in another bowl, stir together the eggs, vanilla, sugar, and Purple Puree.
11. In a mixing bowl, stir together Flour Blend, cocoa powder, oats, and salt. Add this to the chocolate mixture and blend thoroughly. Mix in the chopped walnuts, if using, then pour the entire mixture into the baking pan.
12. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely in pan before cutting the brownies and use a plastic or butter knife. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.
13. Keeps for a week in the refrigerator, covered tightly.

Reviews

[LonghornMama]

Yummy thin, soft cake-like brownies that don't taste at all like veggies! Texture is moist like that of a low-fat brownie, though they aren't lowfat. I was out of chocolate chips so used 4.5 squares of semisweet chocolate. This recipe needs to be editted, the directions are confusing as written. Also "flour" referred to in the top section is actually the flour blend listed below or 2T unbleached plus 2 T whole wheat plus 2T wheat germ. I love a healthy recipe and so do my kids even if they don't know it! Thanks for sharing! Made for PAC Fall 2007.