Perfectly soft and chewy gluten free vegan chocolate chip cookies made with sweet potatoes, coconut oil, Doves Farm gluten free self-raising flour and a delicious gingerbread flavour.
I was really craving some pumpkin spice cookies the other day and since my last attempt (recipe –>Β here)Β turned out so good, I decided thatΒ it was time to make another batch! But it was late at night,Β the shops were closed and I was lacking a few crucial ingredients… First of all I didn’t have any fresh or canned pumpkin – not the best start when making pumpkinΒ spice cookies!Β ?Β – and I didn’t have any butter either…
But as I looked around the kitchen trying to figure out what to use instead, it all made sense when I spotted a lonely sweet potato sitting on the counter! Yes, why haven’t I tried this before!? It’s a perfect substitute! And seeing as canned pumpkin can be hard to find here in the UK, not to mention quite expensive, sweet potatoes are really the way forward!
They turned out just like pumpkin spice cookies and were absolutely delicious! Substituting the butter for coconut oil 1:1 worked great too. The texture and flavour was just as good as buttery ones.
The only downside is that coconut oil is a bit higher in calories than butter (1 tablespoon butter = 101 calories vs 1 tablespoon coconut oil = 121 calories, which adds up when using half a cupΒ such as in cookies) soΒ unless you’re vegan, can’t eat dairy or have none at home, I would probably still recommend using butter… but yeah,Β at the end of the day cookies are cookies though! They’re rich and that’s the just the deal they come with, but I thought it was worth mentioning. π
My Sweet Potato Gingerbread Cookies Recipe:
- 6 Tbsp sweet potato purΓ©e (about 1 very small sweet potato)
- ½ cup coconut oil (or butter)
- ¼ cup brown sugar (I used dark muscovado)
- ½ cup caster sugar
- ½ Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 + ½ cup all purpose self-raising gluten free flour blend (I used Doves Farm)
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 1 + ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ginger powder
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ½ cup chocolate chips
- NOTE: add 2 tsp baking powder if using a plain flour blend
COOKING TEMPERATURE: 180C (about 350F)
COOKING TIME: 10 mins
Directions
- Peel 1 sweet potato and chop into small cubes. Boil in a pan until very soft, drain and mash with a fork.
- Once it has cooled down a bit, add 6 heaped tablespoons worth of mashed sweet potato in a bowl along with the coconut oil (or butter), vanilla extract, brown and caster sugar. If the coconut oil is solid, melt it in the microwave first (about 10 seconds, make sure it doesn’t get too hot). Mix with a fork or whisk until there are no (or very little) lumps left.
- Add the flour, salt and spices. Mix well.
- Add the chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed.
- Cover the dough with cling film and refrigerateΒ for at least 30 minutes. This makes the dough more solid, easier to handle when moulding the cookies and it also helps them keep their shape (in general the firmer the cookie dough is, the less they spreadΒ during cooking).
- Preheat the oven to 180C (about 350F) and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Take the cookie dough out of the fridge and start making the cookies. Take about a spoonful of dough and mash it with your hands until smooth and sticking together properly. Roll it into a ball, press to flatten it on the baking tray and smooth out the edges. Repeat with the rest of the dough. These cookies don’t really expand during the cooking process so shape them as you want.
- Decorate with extra chocolate chips by pressing them on top of each cookie (optional).
- Cook for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Take them out of the oven and let them cool down on the baking tray.
Enjoy!
π
Kimi x
This looks really good! I’ll have to try these very soon.
Thanks! Hope you like them! π