These soft, pillowy Sweet Potato Cookies are an ideal way to use leftover mashed sweet potatoes, but are delicious enough to have to cook sweet potatoes just to make the recipe!
This super easy recipe comes to the blog from Terri Gilley by way of my partnership with the Alabama Farmers Federation. We recently featured Terri’s recipe for these super tender, soft cookies in my segment on Simply Southern TV and in my monthly column in ALFA’s Neighbors magazine.
These cookies get their unique color and flavor from a cup of mashed sweet potatoes. This recipe is a great way to use up some leftover mashed sweet potatoes, but they’re so delicious you might find yourself cooking sweet potatoes just for this cookie recipe!
How should I cook my sweet potatoes?
Don’t have leftover mashed sweet potatoes? No worries! Here are two methods to cook sweet potatoes for this recipe. You’ll need about 2 medium sweet potatoes.
- Baking Method:
- Preheat your oven to 375°F.
- Scrub sweet potatoes, poke them with a fork, and place on a lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 45-60 minutes or until tender.
- Boiling Method:
- Peel and cut sweet potatoes into chunks.
- Boil in water for 15-20 minutes until tender.
- Drain well.
- After cooking, mash the sweet potatoes until smooth to get your required cup of mashed sweet potatoes for your recipe.
Recipe Swaps and Additions
I love Terri’s recipe for its simplicity, but you can certainly jazz these up if you see fit.
Sweet Potato Swap: I’ve not tested it, but I would imagine that using a cup of plain canned sweet potato puree could work in this recipe. A 15-ounce can should yield about 1 1/2 cups.
Toppings: I added some extra chopped pecans and a sprinkle of turbindo sugar to give them a little more texture and crunch.
Spices: These have such a mild, delicious flavor, but if you want to add some warm-flavored spices, like cinnamon, nutmeg, or cloves, those would be tasty additions.
Recipe Card
Sweet Potato Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potatoes
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or flavoring
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- optional: chopped pecans and turbinado sugar for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick silicone baking mat. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix the brown sugar, white sugar, baking soda and flour together until well combined. Add the sweet potatoes, eggs, butter, vanilla, and nuts. Stir to combine.
- Use a small cookie scoop to spoon the dough onto the prepared cookie sheet. If desired, sprinkle some additional chopped pecans and turbinado sugar over each ball of dough.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
* If nutritional values are provided, they are an estimate and will vary depending on the brands used. The values do not include optional ingredients or when ingredients are added to taste. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, I recommend grabbing your favorite brands and plugging those ingredients into an online nutritional calculator.
Darlene
Hello Stacey ,
Under Recipe Swaps and Additions you have Spices:
These have such a mild, delicious flavor, but if you want
to add some warm-flavored spices, like cinnamon, nutmeg,
or cloves, those would be tasty
additions. How much of each
would you use?
I don’t want to over power the sweet potatoe taste, but don’t want to blaned cookie.
Can’t wait to hear back from you.
Thanks so much.
Darlene
Hi Darlene! I’ve not tested it, so I can’t say for sure. I’d suggest starting with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and perhaps a 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. Hope that helps! If you try it, please come back and let me know what worked and I can include those measurements in the suggestions.
michael munoz
Blessings, thank you so much
You as well!
Michael Munoz
Can you use canned sweet potatoes for the cookies
I’ve not tested it that way, but can’t see why it wouldn’t work. You’ll just need to make sure to drain them very well. If they add a bunch of liquid to the dough, you might need to add a little extra flour.