Spinach Brownie Bites (From Scratch)

JMigs;0)'s Note:

Adapted from the spinach brownies recipe originally from Parents Magazine. And just like the original spinach brownie recipe, you can't taste the spinach! Yet these are even more kid-friendly because they are bite-sized. I had a gigantic Costco-sized bag of fresh spinach so I had to find things to do with it, after making spinach salad, spinach quiche, spinach-artichoke dip, I still had some steamed spinach left over so I made these. A note on the amount of spinach: I only added enough of the creamed spinach to the chocolate batter until it looks slightly greenish, it may not the the entire amount - If you use more spinach make sure to add more sugar and cocoa powder to taste or it will be bland (taste before adding eggs).

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 45 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 12

Yield: 36.0 brownie ...

• 1 cup spinach , steamed & drained (roughly 6 cups of fresh spinach, stems removed and packed into measuring cups)
• 4 ounces semisweet baking chocolate , broken into pieces
• ½ cup unsalted butter , cut into pieces
• 1 cup brown sugar , packed
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• ¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose flour)
• 2 tablespoons flour (whole wheat or all-purpose)
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup semisweet mini chocolate chips (mini preferred)
• 2 tablespoons apple juice (more as needed) or 2 tablespoons carrot juice (more as needed) or 2 tablespoons grape juice (more as needed)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Steam spinach until soft, drain and set aside.
3. Using a glass or metal mixing bowl on top of a saucepan 1/2 full with water (double broiler method), break chocolate into small pieces and add butter, melt over hot but not boiling water. Stir until smooth and melted, remove from heat and let cool to room temperature, set aside.
4. Using a food processor, cream the spinach with drizzles of apple juice (adding only enough to be able to cream the spinach).
5. Add the spinach mixture to the chocolate mixture, blend.
6. Add the sugars, and vanilla. (you can taste this before adding eggs to make sure it's sweet enough if you'd like).
7. Add eggs to the chocolate mixture.
8. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder.
9. Fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture and mix well.
10. Stir in the chocolate chips.
11. Butter or spray mini muffin tins.
12. Scoop or pour in batter to the top of tins and bake for about 15 - 18 minutes (or until firm).
13. Cool 5 - 10 minutes then pop them out (using a toothpick to loosen around edges if needed) and finish cooling on racks, if your kids can wait that long that is.

Reviews

[LonghornMama]

Yummy and a great place to hide spinach. Made as directed but didn't need additional apple juice to thin the spinach mixture. Used whole wheat pastry flour. Wonderful treat for lunchboxes and one which I'm sure will be a repeat as I buy huge amounts of spinach, too. Thanks for sharing the recipe! Made for PAC Fall 2008.