Vegan Brownies

Sorry for not posting any new Japanese lessons recently; things have been a bit busy at work. But maybe these vegan desserts will whet your appetite a bit...
Hiromi did a lot of baking this rainy weekend, and the picture to the left was the result. From the left and moving clockwise: vegan banana chocolate chip bread, raisin scones and vegan brownies. I say vegan, but we didn't have enough maple syrup, so both the banana chocolate chip bread and the brownies have honey--making them technically not vegan. At any rate, they all taste amaaaazing! Hiromi adjusted the recipes to make them less sweet, as American desserts tend to be. A friend asked me for the recipe for the brownies, so here it is!

"Wet" ingredients:
1/2 cup mashed sweet potato (or a can of sweet potatoes)
1/4 cup honey (or maple syrup, if you prefer)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (canola, safflower, sunflower, etc.)
1 Tsp. vanilla

"Dry" ingredients:
1/3 cup rolled oats
3/8 cup Sucanat (or date sugar or maple sugar)
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup pecans, divided
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. baking powder
a heaping 1/4 tsp. salt

Other stuff you'll need:
An oven, preheated to 350 degrees F
An oiled 8 x 8 inch baking pan
A blender or food processor
A pot, some water and a knife to peel and slice the sweet potato
A spatula, to mix everything
A sifter, if you want to sift the dry ingredients

Step 1: Make the mashed sweet potato. (Or, you could just use canned sweet potatoes). Peel and slice a sweet potato; the thinner you slice it, the sooner it gets cooked. Place the slices into a pot with some water and boil/blanch. Once the sweet potato slices are tender, drain the pot leaving some of the liquid. Mash, or puree in a food processor or blender. Use the excess liquid to thin the mash/puree as necessary. When done, the mash/puree should be a little thinner than mashed potatoes.
Step 2: Take the rolled oats and chop 'em up in a blender or food processor until they are like coarse flour.
Step 3: Take all the "wet" ingredients and mix them up in a bowl.
Step 4: Take all the "dry" ingredients (except for some pecans) and mix them up in a bigger bowl. To avoid clumps, you may want to sift the ingredients into the bowl.
Step 5: Pour the combined "wet" ingredients into the mixture of "dry" ingredients.
Step 6: Mix the concoction, but not too much!
Step 7: Pour the concoction into the baking pan, sprinkle the pecans you saved on top, and bake for 20 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake until you can stick a knife in the middle and it comes out clean--probably about 10 more minutes.
Step 8: Let it cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting.
Step 9: Eat and enjoy!

Citation: This recipe was adapted from a great book full of delicious vegan recipes: Simple Treats: A Wheat-Free Dairy-Free Guide to Scrumptious Baked Goods, by Ellen Abraham.