Play Eat Grow: Eat: Sneaky Chef Brownies

I first learned about these brownies at a party at my son's preschool. After I commented on how moist and delicious they were, the mom smiled and said, "They have a secret ingredient. You will never guess what it is." My mind immediately went to things like- butter, sour cream, half and half- I don't know, something really caloric. She giggled and said, "I'll tell you after you finish it."

Ya'll-- it was spinach and blueberries!! And I didn't taste them at all, which is a good thing because I definitely do NOT want my dessert tasting like vegetables.

Well, that was a couple years ago, so when I ran across this cookbook in the library, I decided to make up a batch of my own to see how hard it was.

Source

In the book, sneaky chef Missy Chase Lapine gives two recipes for these yummy brownies- one for the "from-scratch" version, and another where you doctor-up a boxed brownie mix. While I would love for myself to do the from-scratch version, brownies are something that I typically make if I want a quick dessert. If I'm going to do something from scratch, it's probably going to be something a little more creative and interesting to make.

So, here's the "from the box" version:

Ingredients

1/2 c. wheat germ (which you can find in the oatmeal aisle)
1 box (about 21 ounces) of brownie mix
2 large eggs
3/4 c. of the Purple Puree (3 c. baby spinach + 1.5 c. frozen blueberries + 1/2 tsp. lemon juice)
1/4 c. canola oil

The Process

First, the Purple Puree.

Add 3 cups of baby spinach to a small pot, along with a few Tablespoons of water. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for 10 minutes.

While you're simmering the spinach, rinse your frozen blueberries and let drain.

Here's what the spinach will look like after 10ish minutes.

Put the blueberries, spinach, and lemon juice in a food processor, and process until smooth. When using a kitchenaid food processor, this took about 20 seconds. (Seriously, have you used one of those things? I borrowed it from Christina and it is amazing. How can anyone use a plain 'ol machine after using that thing?!).

Now, the brownie part.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat your 8x8 or 9x13-inch pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, pour your brownie mix in, and then measure out 1/2 cup of the dry mix and discard. Now add 1/2 cup of the wheat germ.

Then, mix together the eggs, oil, and 3/4 cup of the Purple Puree until very well blended. Pour into the pan, and then bake however long your box says. After baking, add a few fun sprinkles to the top for some color, and walla! You have yourself some veggie-laden brownies!

(Aaaaand, I'm doing a little experiment... I'm sending them to a mom and dad who just had a baby along with the meal we cooked them. I'll see if they can guess the secret ingredient! :)).