“Soft” Sweet Potato with Pecans Cookies

The reason I named the cookies as “soft” as they are, literally SOFT.  As you go through the following recipe, it contains leavening agents such as baking soda and baking powder. So please expect the cookies to be soft and fluffy and NOT chewy and crisp. Strange descriptions for cookies, I know.

To be honest, if this hasn’t been labelled as a cookie recipe, I reckon it would have been passed off as a muffin recipe. I was trying to save time by using a medium sized ice cream scoop and it didn’t work for me and that particular batch has transformed into “muffins”. Literally.

I reckon after this recipe, I’m going to stop trying to make bakegoods out of a sweet potato. Not that they have been a disaster but I feel they are better eaten as mash or perhaps as a pie filling. What do you think?

Soft Sweet Potato with Pecans Cookies

(adapted from Southernfood)

Prep time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 15 minutes (for each batch – depending the size of your tray)

Makes about 30 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I’ve used wholemeal plain flour instead)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 4 ounces (113g) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 cup well-mashed or pureed sweet potatoes
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• Some pecan halves for decoration (optional)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F / 200 degrees C.
• In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg; set aside.

{For wholemeal flour users only: When sifting through the flour, the wholemeal will stay behind. Use your finger or the back of a spoon to press through any lumps and tip the wholemeal bit back into the bowl.)

• Roughly chop pecans.  Set aside.

• In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.

• Beat in the egg, sweet potato, and vanilla.

• Beat mixture into dry ingredients.
• Stir in pecans.

• To form the cookies – please do not use an ice cream scoop  because the dough will not “flatten” much as it bakes. Basically, it will pretty much stay the same shape as pre-baking dough – you don’t want them to become muffins instead!

• Rather, oil two teaspoons. Then use teaspoon A to scoop the dough from the bowl and use teaspoon B to push the batter from teaspoon A onto the baking tray. I try to make the dough slightly oval shape mimicking the pecan halves.  Please note that the dough is a bit sticky so the teaspoon method works best for this recipe. Also make sure you leave about 1.5 inches from each other, just in case.

• Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until brown. Cool on racks and store in an airtight container.