Before you write off this recipe as one that is not for you, just hear me out.
I know that whenever anyone hears the word “prune” they start to retreat, as if I offended them in some way. It’s an oddity about the people around me that I will never understand.
I for one love prunes. You can make all the jokes you want, but I love dried fruit of any kind, and I do not discriminate.
But here’s the problem. Even though I love prunes, buying a Costco-sized bag of them makes it impossible to eat it all by myself. So how can I get the prune-hating people around me to eat them? You guessed it!
I’m always hiding things in my baking. I’ve been hiding pumpkin from my dad in my pumpkin raisin muffins that I made a while back. I’ve also made some black bean brownies that everyone devoured before I even had time to take pictures, or tell them the special ingredient!
And since everyone loves fudgy brownies, it seems fitting to hide some good ol’ prunes in ’em.
From the responses I got from everyone who tried them, it seemed like this should be my go-to brownie recipe. This made me want to tell them the secret ingredient so much more. But knowing them, they will probably stop eating them.
So I will keep my mouth shut until my huge bag of prunes has disappeared into various other baking items (and of course more brownies like this one). Because hey, it’s always better when you share, am I right?
Prune Brownies
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup pitted prunes
- 2 Tbsp water
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg white
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line an 8×8 inch pan with aluminum foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang. Set aside.
- Place the prunes and the water in a food processor and process until smooth.
- Boil 5 cups of water and pour into a medium bowl.
- Place the chocolate chips and butter into a smaller bowl, and place it into the bowl full of water. Mix the chocolate chips and butter until the mixture is smooth, making sure not to let the water mix in with the chocolate mixture.
- Remove the chocolate mixture from the water bath. Immediately whisk in the sugar, egg, egg white, prune puree and vanilla until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the flours and cocoa powder. Stir in the chocolate mixture until fully incorporated.
- Pour the batter evenly in the prepared pan. Bake for around 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let cool completely in the pan. Using the foil, remove the brownies from the pan, and cut into squares.
Very tempting recipe… Drooling here…
Oh I agree! I've made brownies with prunes before – yum! These look delish girl!
Interesting.. They look great, but have to admit still a little scared of the prunes 🙂
Well, I've heard the prunes add a bit of moistness to brownies. Intriguing idea.
My mom is big on prunes. I'm more "meh." But this is a great way to get them in your diet if you need the…regularity.
Adding prunes to baked goods give the baked goods a wonderful moisture and , replacing some of the fat, like butter .
These brownies look amazing.
Cathleen, you sneaky girl! Who would have though of prunes and brownies? I used to hate prunes too but I now appreciate them in cakes. I have a whole tub sitting in the pantry and I am going to try your brownies!
These brownies look amazing .
Event announcement – Lets cook for christmas
http://justnotthecakes.blogspot.com/2013/11/event-announcement-lets-cook-for.html
Do link your recipes 🙂
You could win Award certificates ..
Call me an old lady, but I love prunes…and I was not at all turned off by the title to this recipe. If anything, I was intrigued! I definitely think adding fruit or fruit purees is a great way to moisten up any baked good. These look great!
Delicious prune brownies, I didn't think I could enjoy prunes ever but you made it possible 😀
Cheers
CCU
These are brilliant! I love prunes too, especially when they make chocolate bars like this! Thank you for sharing! I hope you and yours have a beautiful Thanksgiving tomorrow!
I always just call them dried plums so people don't get weird about them. Great brownies!
These brownies look wonderful, I would never think they had prunes in there, hehe so sneaky 🙂 Thanks for sharing Cathleen and hope you have a great week!
I for one am not a big fan of prunes! But when it's blended into the cake…. now ya got me thinking!! 🙂
I bought some prunes, trying to be healthy, but didn't like them after all. So I looked for a brownie recipe to use them in. Made these today and they are great!
I am glad you liked them!
Was wondering if you could use all AP flour. I’m out of whole wheat flour.
Yes you can definitely use AP flour!
Yum! They turned out very rich and fudgey, and crispy on the edges. I think the cup of sugar might be a bit too much. I’m going to try 1/2 cup next time.
Can I use some already made prune baby food and boxed brownie mix that has chocolate chips in it?
I have never personally tried that, but I think that should work!