Gluten Free Sweet Potato Cookies
Does that title sound a little funny to you? No matter. You’ll love this gluten-free recipe. I guarantee you that when your kids, husband, or friends get a whiff of these gluten free sweet potato cookies, they’ll come running to the kitchen. Mine sure do! Healthy cookies ftw. 🙂
I used to get some weird reactions when I got caught baking snacks with sweet potatoes. Like these sweet potato crackers (gluten-free). But they taste so good that it’s just an accepted fact of kitchen life around here now.
Benefits of baking with sweet potatoes
Sweet potatoes add so much moisture and help guard against that dreaded bland flavor that so many gluten-free baked goods are known for.
Not to mention, it adds a wallop of nutrition.
I’ll be the first to admit that the snacks I make for my kids aren’t always perfectly healthy, but I do try to make sure there’s some healthy element to them.
In these sweet potato cookies, for instance (aside from the aforementioned sweet potato nutrition), there’s really not a lot of sugar – most of the sugar in the cookie is actually what you see on the cookie. You can also use coconut oil in place of the butter for a healthy, dairy-free option.
Gluten Free Sweet Potato Cookies
These delicious cookies show just how tasty sweet potatoes can be, and they’re packed with flavor and nutrients!
- Prep Time: 45
- Cook Time: 12
- Total Time: 57
- Yield: 18–24 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 4 oz. mashed or puréed, cooled sweet potato
- 3 TB sugar
- 1/4 cup butter, 1/2″ cubes or 3 – 4 TB coconut oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup gluten-free flour mix
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375º.
- Whisk together sugar, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add cubed butter or coconut oil to the bowl, and cut the mixture together until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Or, you can pulse the mixture in a food processor.
- Add the sweet potato and egg to the mixture. Mix well. Pulse in a food processor (if using one) until the dough comes together.
- Mold the dough into a 6-7″ cylinder. Wrap tightly with seran wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. (I actually didn’t have saran – the joys of moving – and wrapped it in a zip-loc bag) or place in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
- Once chilled, cut the dough into 1/4″ round pieces. I found the easiest way to do this was to use waxed floss. Cut an 8-12 inch piece, slide it under the log of dough about a quarter inch, and cross at the top. Pull through, and repeat.
- Dip Each piece in granulated sugar on both sidea, and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake in batches for about 12 minutes – until the bottom of the cookies are golden brown.
- Cool the cookies completely on a cooling rack.
- Enjoy!
P.S. They’re great any time anyway, but these gluten free sweet potato cookies are divine while they’re hot!
Keywords: sweet potato, cookies, baking, dessert, sugar cookies
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My daughter loves sweet potatoes! Thanks.
These look really cute, Elise! Love the sweet potato in them. I’m sure I’d have a hard time not eating them all while they’re warm out of the oven 🙂
I haven’t made a lot of things with sweet potatoes, but what I have made has been delicious, so I can imagine how good those cookies are. I happen to have some sweet potatoes in my fridge, so these cookies might be happening very soon!
This is genius! I have a seriously love affair with sweet potatoes, but have never thought about using them in cookies! I saw them in a brownie recipe once, but this is much more up my alley (I love me some cookies!). Can’t wait to try them and thanks for providing the non-dairy subs 🙂
These really do look good. I pinned so I can give them a try. I like that they don’t have very much sugar. I am really trying to stay away from the sugar. Thanks so much.
It never occurred to me to try sweet potatoes in cookies! They look moist and delicious!
Just got them out of the fridge.. noticed you never said to add the cinnamon. 🙁 Guess I’ll put cinnamon sugar on them, but would have put it in the dough.
hi! I wanted to try these cookies out but wanted to sub the sugar for honey. would that mess the consistency up? if not, how much would you recommend using? thanks!
I’m not really sure. It’s not a lot of sugar, so chances are, it would be fine. If the honey does make the dough too soft, you could either add a bit more flour, or just drop them from your spoon rather than trying to cut them.
I happen to have a large can of syrup-packed “yams” left over from Thanksgiving – before we committed to healthier eating. Do you think I could use them drained and omit the sugar from the cookie dough? TIA
I think that should work.
Just made these….big hit with my little picky eaters!!! (I think they are pretty yummy too!) Thank you for the recipe!
I just made these cookies today, and even though I didn’t cover them in sugar at the end, they are delicious, thank you Elise, you have so many wonderful ideas…
Glad you liked them! I love the idea of not covering them in sugar for more of a snack cookie. 🙂
Can one use a banana or applesauce instead of an egg?
Sorry I haven’t tried it.
I would really appreciate the nutrition information being included with your recipes. Having that would help with calorie and macro counting. Thank you.
Hi Francene, I totally understand! We’re working on it since we had to change recipe card apps.
Tried to make these and they turned out like pancakes. Not like a Cookie at all. Anyway to help or guide me? I really want to make a healthier GF & DF cookie for my family.
Added a bit more sweet potato. Chilled the dough, made them into balls and then rolled in cinnamon and sugar before baking them Tasted the coconut more than the sweet potato. Next time going to use butter and see how they are. Definitely a nice snack with a cup of hot tea or glass of milk.
★★★★