Sweet Potato Dark Chocolate Bars

by Erin

This month for the Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned to Finding Joy in My Kitchen. After digging through some delicious sounding recipes such as White Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese, Zucchini “Pizza”, and Healthier Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars with Crumble Topping, I finally decided to make these sweet potato dark chocolate bars. It seems that I have not been able to get my fill of sweet potato lately.

These bars could have been made with pumpkins puree, which would have been easier because all I would’ve had to do is pop open a can. But I decided to go ahead and cook up some sweet potato and dig out my food processor to make puree. Was it worth it? Definitely. These bars are like sweet potato cheesecake, with a dense-cakey (almost sugar cookie-like) crust and a granola-dark chocolate topping. I have never used granola for a topping (only oats) and really enjoyed the extra crunch it added. I used one of my favorite store-bought granolas that has pumpkin seeds in it to complete the fall-ness of these bars.

Also, in the original post she wondered if this recipe would also work with a homemade yellow cake mix. So took up this challenge and went ahead and made my own homemade cake mix and used it in this recipe. Sure enough it worked! I’ll be sharing the recipe for the homemade mix tomorrow.

SWEET POTATO DARK CHOCOLATE BARS

Makes about 20 bars

Ingredients:

CRUST

1-18.25 oz. box yellow cake mix (homemade mix works too, about 2-1/2 cups)

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

1 egg yolk

FILLING

2 cups sweet potato puree (could also substitute for pumpkin)

4 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened

1 egg white

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

TOPPING

1 cup granola (I used a store-bought granola with pumpkin seeds)

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch pan and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl combine the cake mix, butter and egg yolk together until it forms a ball of dough. Press into a the bottom of the prepared pan.
  3. In a medium bowl, combine sweet potato puree, cream cheese, egg white, sugar and spices.  Mix well until most of the lumps are blended. Pour the sweet potato puree mix over the top of the crust.
  4. In a medium bowl, mix the granola, cinnamon and dark chocolate chips together. Add the melted butter to help the ingredients stick together. Sprinkle the topping over the sweet potato filling.
  5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. The sweet potato layer remains somewhat creamy and solidifies as it cools. Allow to cool completely and then refrigerate before cutting into bars (not necessary, but the bars cut cleaner if you chill them first).

Source: Adapted slightly from Finding Joy in My Kitchen




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17 comments

nicole @ I am a Honey Bee October 8, 2012 - 12:19 pm

ooo i would love to try this with pumpkin.
and props for making swet potato and not just popping a can open. :-)

Reply
kirstin September 27, 2012 - 9:48 am

Yum! These sound really good. Great choice. Fellow Group D’er

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Kitchen Ninja (Julianne) September 25, 2012 - 8:26 am

GREAT use for sweet potato — nice!

Reply
Deanna September 25, 2012 - 6:20 am

I love the idea of sweet potato and chocolate. I’ve never put those two flavors together before. Hm…..

Reply
Jocelyn @BruCrew Life September 24, 2012 - 10:31 pm

These sound incredible!!! I am very excited to see your homemade cake mix recipe too! I love a good sweet potato recipe!!!!

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Amy | Amy's Cooking Adventures September 24, 2012 - 9:56 pm

I would never have thought to add sweet potatoes to bars! How clever!

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Asiya September 24, 2012 - 8:51 pm

Great combo of flavours…love how they are topped with granola! Great SRC pick!

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Christine September 24, 2012 - 8:11 pm

This is so creative! I never would have thought to make sweet potatoes into bars – they look so delicious!

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Emily @ Life on Food September 24, 2012 - 7:24 pm

Great pick! I am loving all of the Fall recipes. These bars look delicious!

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Lindsay {life and kitchen} September 24, 2012 - 2:57 pm

Oh yum! These look great!

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amy @ fearless homemaker September 24, 2012 - 1:27 pm

These look awesome! Love that you used sweet potato puree instead of the normal pumpkin puree and LOVE LOVE LOVE that you made your own cake mix. Can’t wait to see that recipe!

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Tracey September 24, 2012 - 1:03 pm

What a fantastic combo – I never would have thought to do it myself, but I definitely want to try!

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SnoWhite @ Finding Joy in My Kitchen September 24, 2012 - 12:45 pm

Erin!! I’m so excited that you tried these bars. They are one of our favorites. Sweet potatoes are a substitute in our house for pumpkin, but I’ve had friends who’ve made the bars with pumpkin also. I’m glad you gave the pureed sweet potato approach a go. And, I’m even more thrilled to learn about your homemade cake mix that worked in the crust. That is just awesome. Can’t wait to see that recipe tomorrow.

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Jenni September 24, 2012 - 12:39 pm

These bars look awesome!

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Rituparna September 24, 2012 - 12:18 pm

This is such a different idea!
Slurp !

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Tara @ Chip Chip Hooray September 24, 2012 - 11:46 am

What a cool idea! I’ve never thought to make a bar treat from sweet potatoes. :)

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Stephanie September 24, 2012 - 11:07 am

I need to buy some sweet potatoes now!

Reply

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