These soft-baked Sweet Potato Cookies are a favorite dessert in our house. They can be made ahead, adjusted for allergies, and topped with a super simple frosting to make them extra special. And they’re a perfect way to use up leftover sweet potato puree.
Sweet Potato Cookies
These Sweet Potato Cookies may rely on a handful of nutritious staples, but they are so darn delicious! They’re also a nice way to serve up a dose of veggies (or to use up leftover roasted sweet potato should you happen to have any) and whole grains. They are naturally sweet and a great dessert or snack to share.
When freshly baked, the texture of these cookies is a perfect mix of crisp around the edges and soft in the middle. This makes them a great texture for toddlers.
(They soften a little during storage but still taste super yummy.)
We love them as part of a holiday cookie spread or as a dessert to share any day of the week.
Ingredients You Need
To make this recipe you’ll need:
- Quick oats: Or regular rolled oats ground briefly in a blender or food processor.
- Shredded unsweetened coconut: This adds yummy flavor, but you can use additional oats if you prefer.
- Ground flaxseed: This helps ensure the batter holds together well. If you don’t happen to have it, use additional oats instead.
- Cinnamon and vanilla extract for flavor. Baking powder to help them rise.
- Eggs
- Cooked, mashed sweet potato: You can use a quick sweet potato puree, Crock-Pot Sweet Potatoes, or mash roasted sweet potato.
- Coconut oil: This works well to add moisture to the batter, but melted butter works, too.
To make this recipe nut-free, use additional oats instead of the coconut and butter for the coconut oil.
How should I cook sweet potato to use in this recipe?
You’ll need to make mashed sweet potato ahead of time, so you can do it in the Crock-Pot or bake a sweet potato in the oven for 45-60 minutes at 375 degrees F. Poke holes in it to allow steam to escape and place it into a greased pie plate.
Let it cool and mash the sweet potato, then measure it out for this recipe.
TIP: If you find yourself with leftover mashed sweet potato, even baby food, you can use it in this recipe.
Step-by-Step Instructions
To make this recipe, here’s what you’ll need to do. Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Add the ingredients to a medium bowl.
- Stir together well.
- Portion out rounds onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Press flat and bake!
Once cooled, you can top with an optional Greek Yogurt Icing. The icing is made by stirring together plain Greek yogurt, honey or maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
How to Pipe on Frosting Using a Zip Top Bag
You can spread the icing on the cookies with a knife or place into a zip-top plastic bag and cut off one bottom corner. Then squeeze on as if you were using a pastry bag! It’s super easy and a fun way for the kids to help, too.
Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Cookies
To make these cookies gluten-free, simply use certified gluten-free rolled oats. There’s no other gluten in the recipe, so it’s an easy substitution.
Dairy-Free Sweet Potato Cookies
To make these cookies dairy-free, simply skip the optional icing or use a nondairy Greek yogurt in place of the regular kind. (The cookies are naturally dairy-free.)
These cookies actually make delicious little breakfast cookies that you can make ahead and pull out on a busy weekday. They’re so low in sugar and have a nice mix of ingredients that you don’t have to waste a second feeling guilty about serving them up anytime of the day!
TIP: They pair really well with coffee should you need some breakfast for yourself.
How to Store
You can store these cookies, once cooled, for 3 days at room temperature, 5 days in the fridge, or up to 3 months in the freezer stored in a zip-top freezer bag.
Best Tips for Success
- You can use rolled oats instead of quick oats if you grind them briefly in the blender or food processor.
- Gluten-free: Use certified gluten-free rolled oats.
- Dairy-free: Skip the icing or use a favorite nondairy yogurt option.
- Nut-free: Use melted butter instead of the coconut oil and additional oats in place of the coconut.
- Egg-free: Omit the egg. Add ¼ cup milk and ¼ teaspoon baking soda.
- If the batter seems too sticky to work with when you go to place the rounds onto the baking sheet, place the batter into the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up a little.
- Add a little sugar to the batter to make them sweeter if desired. Top with optional icing.
Related Recipes
I’d love to hear your feedback on this recipe, so please comment below to share!
Soft-Baked Sweet Potato Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup quick oats (or rolled oats ground briefly in the food processor or blender)
- ¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 egg
- ½ cup mashed roasted sweet potato (cooled)
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil (slightly cooled; or butter, melted and slightly cooled)
- 2 tablespoons honey (or maple syrup)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Greek Yogurt Icing (optional)
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Place the oats, coconut, flaxseed, baking powder, and cinnamon into a medium bowl. Stir to combine.
- Stir in the egg, sweet potato, coconut oil, honey or maple syrup, and vanilla.
- Drop 1-tablespoon-size portions onto the prepared baking sheet and flatten into a circle about ¼ inch thick. (Use wet hands to move the batter out of the measuring spoon if it's sticky.)
- Bake for 16-18 minutes or until firm and lightly golden brown around the edges. Let cool and serve, topped with optional frosting.
Video
Notes
- You can store these cookies, once cooled for 3 days at room temperature, 5 days in the fridge, or up to 3 months in the freezer stored in a zip-top freezer bag.
- Greek Yogurt Icing: Mix together ¼ cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt, 1 tablespoon honey, maple syrup, or powdered sugar, and ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract. Place into a zip-top bag, seal, and snip off one corner. Drizzle over cookies and serve.
- Gluten-free: Use certified gluten-free rolled oats.
- Dairy-free: Skip the icing or use a favorite nondairy yogurt option.
- Nut-free: Use additional oats in place of the shredded coconut and melted butter instead of the coconut oil. (You can also do this if you don’t have coconut on hand.)
- Egg-free: Omit the egg. Add ¼ cup milk and ¼ teaspoon baking soda.
- If the batter seems too sticky to work with when you go to place the rounds onto the baking sheet, place the batter into the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up a little.
- These cookies are not very sweet (though they are great with the icing). You can add 1-2 tablespoons of sugar to the batter if desired to make sweeter cookies.
Nutrition
This post was first published November 2018.
Made these cookies for my toddler. Loved the cookies. I didnt use eggs and followed the suggestion to use milk+baking soda. Used steamed sweet potatoes. Thank you.
Hi! Thanks for the wonderful recipe? Will steaming sweet potato in instant pot work for this recipe? Thanks!
Sure, that will be fine!
Absolutely delicious! I added chopped dates, walnuts and some extra coconut. Since, I didn’t have unsweetened coconut in the house, I used sweetened. Next time, I’ll use unsweetened coconut, especially if I plan to feed them to a toddler. Thank you!
Sounds great!
Thank you!! This recipe delivered 100%! I made this for my pregnant dessert-loving friend who is avoiding added sugar to reduce her risk of gestational diabetes. We did get the green light for chocolate chips, so I added those instead of using the icing and subbed the sweetener with homemade date paste. I made minis with this recipe and yielded 26 cookies baking at 16 minutes, rotating half way. They turned out soft and moist; sweetness was very very mild except for the chocolate chip parts. While these probably wouldn’t work for those wanting a sugar-fix, these cookies were absolutely perfect for our purpose. My friend really loved them and I’ll definitely be making more!! I may add cardamom in addition to cinnamon next time for another dimension of flavor. I was hoping to taste more of the sweet potato but wasn’t able to detect it in the way we would if we had used mashed bananas. I’ll experiment with drying out the mashed potatoes a bit to see if I can bring out more of the sweet potato essence just for fun. I’ll report back if there is a noticeable difference. Below is what I did for this first round, subs are starred.
1 cup quick oats divided (½ blended into flour; ½ as is)**
¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
½ cup dairy-free chocolate chips**
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon**
¼ cup non-dairy milk + ¼ tsp baking soda** (recommended egg substitute)
½ cup mashed roasted Japanese satsumaimo sweet potato **
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
2 tablespoon date paste **
1 teaspoon vanilla extract**
How thoughtful of you to do this for your friend and thank you for sharing the adjustments you made!
Hi Amy! I dont have flaxseed. Is there anything you can recommend in alternative? Thanks!
I’m sorry that I missed this! Just use a little extra oats instead and it should be fine!
I followed your exact recipe including the instructions for egg replacement and the cookies are wonderful. They were a great Valentine’s Day treat for my toddler and her grandpa! Thank you
Hi, these turned out amazing. Made them without egg and without coconut, using the substitutes in the recipe. I had a request- could you pls post a picture of the product after breaking it into half , after it is cooked?This really makes it clear on how cooked/ uncooked ours turn out! Thanks!!
Sure I will try to do that when I can!
Is there a way to make these egg-free due to an egg allergy?
I am going to try it out and will report back—I think it should be doable!
I updated the Notes so you will see the egg-free info now. They are easy and good that way!
Just made these egg-free cookies and they are great! Kiddo loved it! Thanks so much!
I’m so glad!
These Healthy Sweet Potato Cookies are a favorite dessert in our house.
Hi,
This sounds great! What can I use instead of a nut butter?
Thank you,
Julia.
Regular unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled should work instead.
Flavour is great but mine have turned out quite dry. I’m wondering if some mashed banana or avo added to the dough might help.
My son has a coconut sensitivity – what can I use instead?
You could use additional oats instead.
When you say coconut do you mean coconut oil?
Unsweetened shredded coconut
Could I use instant oats?! Costco sells the big bag of Bob red mills instant steel cut oats…do you think I could use this for the oats or should I stick to traditional rolled oats? Thanks!! Love your blog!
Hi! I haven’t baked with instant steel cut oats so I can’t say for sure whether they’d bake the same way. I know it works with rolled oats so that’s the one I can be sure about. Let me know how it goes!
A great combination of cookies along with sweet potato. This delicious recipe itself tells that food can be a combination of anything. Who thought that sweet potatoes can be combined with cookies and create a whole new dish. I will definitely try this yummy recipe.
Thanks for the recipe. Would it work with almond flour instead of oats? Mum was advised to avoid even oats as part of gf diet. Thank you
I haven’t tried it with almond flour so I can’t say for sure. Certified gluten-free oats would work if that’s an option though.