Mashed Sweet Potatoes Are The Secret Ingredient For Cake-Like Cookies

If you use mashed potatoes in cookie dough, they're not necessarily going to be all that "secret" as they may lend somewhat of an orange-ish hue to the finished product. The surprise might come, however, when you disclose that you went with sweet potatoes instead of the similarly-colored pumpkin puree since the latter is more commonly used in cookies. As sweet potatoes are a popular pie filling (here's our sweet potato pie recipe) and also make for great cakes (one OTT example being Buddy Valastro's Thanksgiving extravaganza), it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that they work well in cookies, too.

One descriptor that some people use for sweet potato cookies is "cake-like," but in this case, it's not being used as a euphemism for dry. Since potatoes are so starchy, this ingredient helps baked goods stay moist and soft instead of hardening as they cool down. Not only do sweet potatoes contribute texture-improving starch, but if you use them in your cookies you'll also get a nutritional boost. Potassium, fiber, and vitamins A and C can all be yours for the low, low price of ... whatever sweet potatoes are going for these days. (We don't dare speculate, since who even knows what's going on at the grocery store from one day to the next?)

Mashed sweet potatoes, like pumpkin puree, can be used in all different kinds of cookies. In fact, you can actually take any pumpkin cookie recipe and swap out the pumpkin for sweet potatoes, instead. Not only might you save a little bit on the cost, particularly if you're using fresh sweet potatoes instead of canned pumpkin, but sweet potatoes are also somewhat more nutritious, and some cooks claim they're far more flavorful as well.

If you're looking for sweet potato-specific cookie recipes, there is no shortage of these, either. Some go full-on pumpkin spice with cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and maybe other so-called fall flavors like maple (although maple trees are generally tapped in late winter, so there's nothing particularly autumnal about their syrup). There are sweet potato cookie recipes that include nuts, others that are made with raisins, while still others call for chocolate chips. Many cooks choose to lean into the healthier side of the vegetable, using it in keto-friendly concoctions made from nothing more than mashed tubers mixed with oats or almond flour or turning it into fiber-rich, high-protein breakfast cookies with rolled oats, nut butter, dried fruits, and seeds.

Sweet potatoes appear in drop cookie recipes as well as those for bar cookies and even brownies. One of the sweetest recipes, however, is for a cookie from Malawi called mbatata as the dough for this is traditionally rolled out and cut into the shape of a heart.