Ube Brownies

Here is an easy ube brownie recipe that will surely be a crowd-pleaser. Ube brownies are perfect to be eaten with your hands and are a great snack when you want something sweet and nutty flavor. The beautiful vibrant purple is eye-catching and will surely keep you wanting more. Let’s check out this easy recipe!

What is ube?

Ube is known as dioscorea alata, or purple yam. In tagalog it means tuber. The vivid purple color of the flesh is want creates this wonderful color. Ube originated in Asia and is popular in Filipino desserts. Most commonly found in halo halo, ube mochi waffles, ube crinkle cookies, ube ice cream, ube bars or ube cookies

What does ube taste like?

The best way for me to describe the flavor is a light marshmallow mixed with a hint of vanilla. It has become much more popular and is even available at Trader Joe’s has ube pancake mix and ube ice cream flavor.

What are ube brownies?

Ube brownies are delicious white chocolate baked confections. This recipe is a cakey form where the density is airier and cake-like. Its dry and is literally like a piece of cake with a shiny brown paper-thin top. 

Why make it?

Vibrant purple color. Humans are easily drawn to beautiful food, this vibrant purple color bronwi is no different. It will be the eye-pleasing dessert that everyone will be talking about. 

Delicious. When the brownies are taken out of the oven, it fills the whole kitchen with this light but sweet, nutty scent that makes you want to take a huge bite into the brownies. Once you have your first bite you will want to go back for me. 

Great for parties. These are bitesize easy to eat with your fingers. They will surely be a huge hit at any party or gathering you a heading to. You can even top them with some frosting or chocolate sauce to make them look even more eye catching.

Why we love this recipe?

Cake-like brownie. Really this is a blondie rather than a brownie but honestly, blondies are not common and who doesn’t love to hear the word brownies when you ahev such a lovely treat!

Unique flavor. Again ube flavor is a hard one to describe and the closest thing I can think of is marshmallow and vanilla mashed together. It is delightful to eat.

How to make ube brownies

Preheat oven. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 9-inch X 9-inch square baking dish with parchment paper.

Brown butter. Take a small saucepan and brown the butter on medium heat until all the butter is melted. Turn down to low heat until little brown bits show up on the bottom of the saucepan. 

Melt white chocolate. Put the white chocolate in a medium bowl and pour the browned butter over. Stir until all the white chocolate melts. Set aside.

Mix the wet ingredients. Mix the sugar and room-temperature eggs in a stand mixer or hand mixer for roughly 5 minutes. Once you achieve a nice light creamy colored mixture add the vanilla extract, ube extract ube halaya jam and salt and mix for 3 minutes. Add the white chocolate and browned butter to the wet ingredients. Mix until well incorporated.

Add dry ingredients to wet. Add the all-purpose flour and use a spatula to gently fold the flour into the mixture.

Pour into baking pan. Pour the batter into the prepared 9-inch X 9-inch baking pan.

Bake Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let it cool for 15-20 minutes before removing from the baking pan and cutting them. Enjoy with a glass of milk!

How to get the shiny paper-thin crust?

Ube brownies are already so eye-catching with the purple color. What drew me to making these is the contrast in color with the top brown paper-thin crust that forms. To achieve the brown shiny top layer beat the sugars (Both brown and white) with the room temperature eggs for at least 5 minutes or until you achieve a light cream-colored mixture. This is to ensure the sugars and eggs are fully combined and the sugars have completed dissolved in the egg whites before other wet and dry ingredients are added.

Ingredients, Variations & Adjustments

White sugar. Will create a chewier brownie.

Brown sugar. Brown sugar is used to make a chewy and fudgy brownie. I like to add it in to give it a little bit of chew. However this recipe I use ¼ cup and more white sugar. 

Eggs. Use room-temperature eggs. 

Unsalted butter. Browning the butter on the stovetop will bring out a smokey flavor to the brownies. Adding the browned butter over the white chocolate to melt it.

All-purpose flour. Any all-purpose flour will work with this recipe. If you would like fudgy brownies use ½ cup instead of ¾ cups.

Ube extract. Ube extract will add more deep flavor and vibrant color to the brownies. I use 1-2 tsp depending on who I am making this for. If I use 1 tsp it will be a pale lavender color. Adding 2 tsp will yield deep and vibrant purple color which is great for bringing to a party to wow the other guest. I have only seen ube extract in Asian supermarkets or online. The brand I use is McCormick Ube Flavor or Butterfly brand Ube extract

Ube halaya jam. Ube halaya jam is used to give it a little bit more ube flavor. I picked up my jar from my local Asian supermarket. Alternatively, you can purchase it here if you are not able to locate the jam. I have used different brands of the jam and this one also works as well.  

White chocolate. I use melting white chocolate for this recipe. It’s easier to melt with browned butter. Any white chocolate specific for baking will work but make sure not to use the white chocolate chip. They don’t melt properly in my experience. The white chocolate can be melted in the microwave if it is easier. I would melt it in increments of 10-12 seconds at a time and take it out to stir to make sure it melts evenly.

Vanilla extract. Use real vanilla extract. But artificial vanilla extract works as well. 

Salt. Elevates the flavors of the ube.

Equipment

Hand mixer or stand mixer isn’t required but highly recommended if you want to mix the sugars and eggs well. I own the KitchenAid stand mixer and hand mixer. These two are excellent and I will making all your baking done so much faster and easier.

Baking pan. The best size to use is a 9 X 9 inch baking pan. I recommend the OXO Good Grips Non-stick Pro Cake Pan Square 9 X 9 inch.

Smart Oven. I use the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro to bake all my baked goods. Its quick and bakes very evenly. Using the stove oven will work perfectly fine as well for this recipe.

How to get fudgy brownies

To get a fudgy brownie this recipe uses less all-purpose flour. Reduce by ¼ cup of all-purpose flour. This recipe is more firm in the middle and is cake-like. If you are going for a fudgy brownie use ½ cup of all-purpose flour.

Recipe FAQs

Why are my brownies not purple?

Make sure to use the right measurement of ube extract. For this recipe use 2 tsp to make sure the bronwies come out bright and vibrant purple.

Why are they not cooked in the center?

If the center of the brownies comes out undercooked make sure your oven is evenly baking the brownies. I like my brownies more 

Why did my brownies not come out with a shiny brown crust?

To get the shiny brown crust its best to use an electric mixer. Stand mix or hand mixer to beat the white and brown sugar with the eggs until its well incorporated. Skipping this step before adding all the wet and dry ingredients will bake a purple-topped ube brownie.

Can I add white chocolate chips to the brownies?

Yes. Add white chocolate chips after folding the all-purpose flour. You can even top it with some extra white chocolates before baking in the oven.

PRO Tips

Let it cool. Let the brownies cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting them into squares.

Under bake. Under baking the brownies is better than overbaking.

Use enough ube extract. When mixing the wet ingredients, you want to make sure the color of the batter is a deeper purple. This is a good indication if the brownies will come out a vibrant and deep purple color. If you see a light or lavender color add more ube extract.

This recipe calls for 1 tbsp of ube extract. This is the key to getting the vibrant purple color. If you don’t want to use too much I would suggest not using less than 2 tsp in order to achieve the color that is shown in my photos. I used 1 tsp and it was a light lavender color brownie.

What can I use instead of ube jam?

If you need a substitute for the ube jam you can steam sweet potato or Asian sweet potatoes and mash it and use ¼ cup.

How to serve

These will pair nicely with milk or pandan milk.

These are great as an afternoon snack or packed into a lunch box for the kids. You can even top it up with some ube jam or chocolate spread.

How to store

These ube brownies will keep in the fridge for up to a week but the best way to store them is to freeze them.

How to freeze and thaw

Cut the brownies into squares and wrap each one in plastic wrap and wrap them with aluminum foil. When you are ready to eat take them out of the freeze and let them thaw at room temperature in the saran wrap/aluminum foil.

These will keep for up to 1 month in the freezer

Looking for other baking recipes?

Check out my other baking recipes

Matcha White Chocolate Cookies

Matcha Puff Pastry Christmas Tree

Pate Chaud (Bánh Patê Sô)

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