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Sweet Potato Breakfast Cookies

By Brittany Mullins

4.28

84

Published Sep 18, 2021, Updated Sep 27, 2023

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GFGluten-FreeDFDairy FreeVVegan

Cookies for breakfast?! Sign me up! These sweet potato breakfast cookies are super easy to make, delicious and great to have on hand for an on-the-go breakfast. 

If you know me, you know that I’m all about making healthy cookies and fully support the idea that cookies can be healthy enough to have for breakfast. I’ve shared everything from oatmeal raisin protein cookies to chia cookies and now these sweet potato breakfast cookies!

These cookies are free of processed sugar and flour, vegan, gluten-free, portable and healthy enough to eat for breakfast. Now that’s my kind of cookie!

What Consists of a Healthy Breakfast?

Let’s break down what a healthy breakfast is, shall we? In my mind, I build it very similarly to lunch and dinner meals: healthy fats, fiber, and lean protein. Some days breakfast looks vastly different from lunch and dinner (ahem, like when I eat cookies) but other days, like when I enjoy a breakfast salad the meals all look very similar.

I like to include healthy fats in my diet in a variety of ways: nuts, oils, avocado, and fatty fish are my favorites! I love getting fiber in my diet through vegetables, but for breakfast I’ll often rely on oats or nuts for fiber. My protein looks different in almost every meal – some of my favorites ways to incorporate protein into meals are tempeh, eggs, chicken, nuts and protein powder.

Now if we look at this cookie recipe, and specifically at the ingredients, we can see that they check all of the boxes for a healthy meal. Healthy fats? Check! Thanks to the coconut oil. Fiber? Check! Thanks to the sweet potato and oats. Protein? Yep! Thank you, nuts.

Here’s What You Need

• rolled oats – we’re using half of the rolled oats to make homemade oat flour and half mixed in as is. Oats are naturally gluten-free, but often cross contaminated so make sure to use gluten-free oats if you have a gluten intolerance. I like using Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free rolled oats.
• almond flour – to keep this recipe gluten-free we’re using almond flour. Use finely ground almond flour instead of almond meal.
• baking powder – helps the cookies rise.
• mashed sweet potato – the mashed sweet potato helps to bind the cookies together and replaces any eggs you’d normally find in cookies. I like meal prepping a baked sweet potato and then mashing up 1 cup for this recipe, but store-bought sweet potato works as well. Just make sure you pick up a can with sweet potato as the only ingredient! You can also make sweet potato puree.
• maple syrup – I prefer maple syrup, but if you don’t need these cookies to be vegan you can use honey. Both are great natural sweeteners.
• coconut oil – a healthy fat that helps bind the wet and dry ingredients together.
• vanilla extract – a flavor enhancer.
• pecans – the perfect nut pairing for this recipe! You can swap for a different nut of choice, dried fruit or skip all together if you’d like.
• chocolate chips – I like to use Lily’s dark chocolate baking chips to keep these low-sugar and vegan.
• spices – ground cinnamon, ground ginger and sea salt.

tip! 
To save time on processing half of the oats into oat flour you can easily use 1 cup of store-bought oat flour instead. 

How to Make Sweet Potato Breakfast Cookies

Process oats – add 1 cup of oats to a blender or food processor and process until the texture is similar to oat flour.

Mix dry ingredients – in a large bowl, combine the oats, processed oats, almond flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and ginger. Whisk to blend.

Mix wet ingredients – in a medium bowl add mashed sweet potato, maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla.

Combine – pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Gently stir in pecans and chocolate chips.

Scoop – use a large cookie scoop to scoop dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a baking stone. Use your hands to form the dough into a round, flat cookie shape. Add a few chocolate chips on top if you’d like.

Bake – bake until the cookies are golden and firm around the edges, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then carefully transfer the cookies to the rack to cool completely.

Mix-In Variations

I like the combination of pecans and chocolate chips paired with the sweet potato. It’s seriously SO good! That said, the mix-ins in this recipe can be totally customized. Here are some ideas:

• dried fruit – these sweet potato breakfast cookies would be delicious with dried cranberries or even dried blueberries.
• fresh or frozen fruit – want to try adding in some fresh or frozen fruit? Try my blueberry sweet potato breakfast cookies instead!
• coconut flakes – unsweetened coconut flakes would make for an awesome addition. If you want to add toasted coconut you can either buy pre-toasted or toast unsweetened flakes in the oven by spreading them on a baking sheet and baking at 325ºF for 5-10 minutes. Watch closely so they don’t burn!
• nuts/seeds – I like the flavor pairing of pecans and sweet potato, but feel free to swap them out for your favorite nut or seed of choice.

What to Pair These Cookies With

As mentioned, these cookies are an awesome on-the-go, portable breakfast option, but if you’re looking to get a bit more protein at breakfast here are some pairing suggestions:

• Hard boiled eggs: I will typically eat 1 or 2 hard boiled eggs with a breakfast cookie.
• Protein shake: a protein shake is a great option when it comes to amping up the protein in your breakfast. I have a few different protein shake flavor variations you can check out.
• Egg dish: serve these cookies with these egg white bites or baked egg muffins for another quick, easy and portable breakfast option.

How to Store Sweet Potato Breakfast Cookies

I prefer to store these cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They’ll keep for about 5 days in the fridge, 2-3 days stored at room temp or up to 3 months in the freezer. Make sure you allow them to cool completely before storing.

More Sweet Potato Recipes

• Sweet Potato Pie
• Sweet Potato Salad
• Sweet Potato Smoothie
• Mexicali Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
• Healthy Sweet Potato Casserole
• Sweet Potato Curry
• Sweet Potato Baked Oatmeal
• Sweet Potato Cupcakes
• Sweet Potato Muffins

More Breakfast Cookie Recipes

• Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies
• No Bake Protein Cookies
• Oatmeal Raisin Protein Cookies
• Blueberry Sweet Potato Breakfast Cookies
• Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
• 3-Ingredient Banana Oatmeal Cookies

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4.28 from 83 votes

Sweet Potato Breakfast Cookies

By: Brittany Mullins

Cookies for breakfast? Sign me up! These sweet potato breakfast cookies are super easy to make, delicious and great to have on hand for an on-the-go breakfast. 

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 16

Ingredients  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• ▢ 1 cup almond flour
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• ▢ 1 cup mashed baked sweet potato
• ▢ ⅓ cup maple syrup or honey
• ▢ ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ▢ ¼ cup chopped pecans
• ▢ ¼ cup chocolate chips, dairy-free, if needed

Instructions 

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Add 1 cup of oats to a blender or food processor and process until the texture is similar to oat flour.
  
• In a large bowl, combine the oats, processed oats, almond flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and ginger. Whisk to blend.
  
• In a medium bowl, add mashed sweet potato, maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla.
  
• Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Gently stir in pecans and chocolate chips.
  
• Use a large cookie scoop to scoop dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a baking stone. Use your hands to form the dough into a round, flat cookie shape. Add a few chocolate chips on top if you’d like.
• Bake until the cookies are golden and firm around the edges, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then carefully transfer the cookies to the rack to cool completely.
• Keep leftover cookies at room temperature for up to 2-3 days, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Video

Notes

• Inspired and adapted from Run Fast Eat Slow.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 129kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 102mg | Potassium: 55mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: Cookies

Keyword: sweet potato breakfast cookies

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