These best ube brownies are soft and gooey, full of purple ube flavour and stuffed with sweet white chocolate chips. Homemade ube brownies are an easy one-bowl recipe, perfect for all occasions!
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✏️ Why you'll love this recipe
Ube is a purple yam popular in the Philippines and features in many great pinoy desserts. These easy purple brownies use ube extract for a simple ube dessert recipe – no ube halaya or ube powder needed!
This ube brownie recipe is actually based on my fudgy blondies recipes like these raspberry white chocolate blondies. Using white chocolate chips instead of melting chocolate into the mixture really lets the ube shine through.
Ube and white chocolate are a match made in heaven, and these homemade ube brownies are a deliciously chewy ube decadence.
These purple brownies are a one-bowl recipe, perfect for a quick and easy ube dessert idea. They’re great for special occasions like Christmas (and even Halloween for their bright purple colour) or for an easy summer snack for picnics and BBQs.
🥘 Ingredients
This ube brownies recipe calls for the following ingredients:
- Unsalted butter: allows you to control the salt content.
- Light brown soft sugar
- White sugar: finely granulated e.g. caster sugar.
- Egg: large size, room temperature for ease of mixing.
- Ube extract: can be found online or at specialist Asian grocery stores.
- Plain all-purpose flour: sieve for a smooth brownie batter.
- Cornstarch: fine white powder called cornflour in the UK and other places.
- Salt
- White chocolate chips
See the recipe card for quantities.
Top tip: For accuracy, it’s best to weigh your ingredients rather than using cups.
♻️ Substitutions / Variations
Ingredient substitutions
You can swap the cornstarch (a white fine powder called cornflour in the UK and other places) for more plain all-purpose flour of the same quantity. Cornstarch gives that lovely shorter texture for chewy purple yam brownies though!
For a slight caramel flavour to your ube fudge brownies, you can swap the white sugar for all light brown sugar. For less of a caramel hint, you can swap the brown sugar for all white sugar.
Flavour options
You can swap your white chocolate chips for milk or dark chocolate (semi-sweet) baking chips instead.
Alternatively, swap half of the white chocolate chips for chopped nuts, e.g. macadamias or pecans, for an added crunch.
You can also swirl cheesecake into your ube brownies before baking like in these Baileys red velvet cheesecake brownies. Beat together 150g (⅔ cups) cream cheese, 45g (¼ cups) white sugar, 1 egg yolk and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a bowl and swirl the mixture through your ube brownie batter in the tin before baking.
Turn your ube brownies into ube mochi brownies by swapping half of the plain all-purpose flour and all of the cornstarch for sweet glutinous rice flour (mochiko flour).
Tin size
To use a 9-inch square tin instead of an 8-inch tin, you don’t need to change the recipe. Cook for 5mins less time. You’ll have a slightly thinner ube brownie.
📖 Method
Preheat oven: 180°C / 160°C (fan) / Gas Mark 4 / 350°F
Step 1: In a large heatproof bowl, melt the butter for 30-50secs in the microwave.
Step 2: Beat in the sugars until smooth and thickened.
Steps 3 - 4: Thoroughly beat in the egg and ube extract.
Steps 5 - 6: Sieve in the flour and cornstarch, stirring until just combined.
Step 7: Stir in the salt and white chocolate chips.
Step 8: Pour the ube brownie mix into a greased and lined 8-inch square pan, smoothing the top gently.
Step 9: Bake for 20-25mins until there is only a slight wobble in the middle.
Step 10: Allow the ube brownie to cool fully in the tin before removing and cutting it into squares and enjoy!
🎥 Recipe video
Check out the recipe video below for how to make the best ube brownies!
💭 Top tips
- Leave a small overhang of parchment paper so it’s easy to lift your ube brownies out of the tin after baking.
- Beat your sugar-butter-egg mixture thoroughly until it’s smooth and thickened. This will give your ube bars the best fudgy chewy texture.
- You’ll know your ube brownies are cooked when there’s only a slight wobble left in the middle.
- Let your ube brownie cool in the tin before removing them and cutting into squares. This stops them from breaking when you try to lift them.
- For neater ube squares, place your brownies in the fridge for 30mins – 1hr before slicing. Use a sharp knife and wipe the blade between cuts for the ultimate neatness.
❔ Recipe FAQs
Your ube brownies should last for up to 4 days stored in an airtight container at room temperature. Store in the fridge for a fudgier, chewy texture or if it’s hot where you live.
Yes! You can freeze your ube brownies wrapped in a layer of cling film and a layer of foil for up to 3 months. Defrost in the fridge and enjoy!
Ube is a purple yam that is popular in Filipino cuisine.
Ube tastes like a slightly nutty and vanilla sweet potato. It has a distinctive flavour and a strong purple colour.
Yes! Ube extract is a great easy way to flavour your food with that distinct nutty sweetness of ube without using ube halaya or ube powder.
It’s not quite as authentic as the real thing, but with it used so commonly in cooking, a lot of ube treats are actually made with ube extract.
🧁 Other goodies
Looking for some more easy desserts?
If you’re a fan of Filipino ube desserts like these ube blondies, you might also like these delicious purple yam treats:
If you like ube, you might also like matcha – another Asian dessert favourite flavour. Give these easy matcha cupcakes and matcha white chocolate cake a try!
Check out these easy brownie and blondie recipes for more delicious dessert ideas for picnics, BBQs, parties and more:
For more brownies check out my full collection of the best brownies recipes.
Other Related Recipes:
Looking forward to some new recipes? Check out my Youtube, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest pages for a few sneak peeks and some sweet inspiration!
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📋 Recipe
Ube Brownies
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Equipment
Ingredients
- 150 g (⅔ cups) unsalted butter
- 75 g (⅓ cups) light brown soft sugar
- 130 g (⅔ cups) white sugar finely granulated e.g. caster
- 1 egg large
- 2 teaspoon ube extract
- 175 g (1 ½ cups) plain all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch white finely ground powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt optional
- 150 g (¾ cups) white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven: 180°C / 160°C (fan) / Gas Mark 4 / 350°F
- In a large heatproof bowl, melt the butter for 30-50secs in the microwave and beat in the sugars until smooth and thickened.
- Thoroughly beat in the egg and ube extract.
- Sieve in the flour and cornstarch, stirring until just combined.
- Stir in the salt and white chocolate chips.
- Pour the brownie mix into a greased and lined 8-inch square pan, smoothing the top gently.
- Bake for 20-25mins until there is only a slight wobble in the middle.
- Allow your ube brownies to cool fully in the tin before removing and cutting into squares and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- The cornstarchused in this recipe is a white fine flour, not a yellow coarse flour. However, sometimes this is called cornflour and the yellow version is called cornstarch, e.g. in the UK, so be sure to pick the white one!
- Beat your sugar-butter-egg mixture thoroughly until it’s thickened and comes together to a smooth mixture.
- You can swap the cornstarch for more plain all-purpose (same amount).
- You can swap the white chocolate chips for milk or dark semi-sweet chips.
- You can swap the 8-inch square pan for a 9-inch square pan and reduce the baking time by 5mins.
- Double up the recipe and bake these brownies in a large brownie tin for 30-35mins, (e.g. 9inch x 13inch brownie pan).
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate based on an online nutritional calculator, actual values may vary.
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