Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gosh, I love Fall!

Here are some highlights from our trip to Telluride:

Time spent alone with my two year old son was priceless.

The yellow leaves clinging to the Aspens were awesome.

It was freeing to walk everywhere and not drive for a week.

The snow covered mountain peaks were breathtaking.

Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies…….need I say more.

With Fall here I love to cozy up and bake.  We are talking real baking, with butter, sugar, flour and more butter.  My favorite flavors abound with the cooler weather…..cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg.  Pastries, breads, cookies and cakes with apple, pumpkin and sweet potato are the spotlight at every cafe and market.  These are good times, and being away was the perfect opportunity for me to experiment with my fav flavors.

I bet it is weird to read the above words spoken from my mouth.

Once in a while we all need a calorie splurge.  It keeps us in check on the “good days” and gives us something to look forward too.  No, I don’t eat cookies like this very often, but when I do they better be well worth my time.  Each bite needs to be special and delicious.  My son’s treat each day on our trip was one of these cookies, the little guy flipped for them!

THE BONUS:  With the addition of Sweet Potatoes you get some vitamin A, fiber and loads of antioxidants in your cookie.  As if we need more reason’s to eat cookies!  Not too mention some refined sugars are cut out with the use of all natural Maple Syrup.

To read more on the virtues of Sweet Potatoes click these links:

Livestrong

Mayoclinic

CAUTION: Don’t eat Chocolate Chip Cookies at 1:00am in the morning,  you will never get to sleep!!!

Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 24 good sized cookies.  Source Organic ingredients when you can!

1/2 cup (1 stick) Softened Unsalted Butter

1 large Egg

1/2 cup Pure Maple Syrup

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Tbs Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Bean Paste

2 cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour   -or-

2 cups Pastry Flour (or 1 cup of each)

(I used 100% pastry flour and ended up with a cookie with a very delicate, cakey crumb.  All purpose flour has more Gluten so cookies will have a slightly chewier texture.  To read more: Pastry vs. All Purpose flour)

1/4 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 Tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice, or Cinnamon

1 Cup Mashed Sweet Potatoes

I baked 2 large sweet potatoes at 400˚F for one hour, until soft.  Let them cool a bit and the skin peels right off. You can also buy canned Organic Sweet Potatoes, just make sure the only ingredient in the can is Sweet Potato.

12 oz. High Quality Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Optional: Powdered Sugar for dusting

Visit my Family Fresh Cooking Chocolate Store at Amazon.com.  Some recommended Chocolate (you can chop up bars to make chips too!):

• Callebaut
• Valrhona
• Ghiradelli
• Scharffen Berger
• Trader Joe’s

1. Combine Butter, Egg, Maple Syrup, Brown Sugar, Vanilla, in medium bowl.  I mixed the ingredients with a spatula, you can also mix with electric mixer until well blended.
2. In a separate bowl mix together dry ingredients: Flour, Salt, Baking Soda, Pumpkin Pie Spice.
3. Stir 1/2 the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, stir in remaining flour mix until well combined.
4. Stir in Sweet Potatoes and Chocolate Chips.
5. Preheat oven to 350˚F, lightly grease baking sheets.
6. Heap large tablespoons of batter onto cookie sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart.
7. Bake for about 15 minutes, until cooked thorough and tops of cookies are golden. (At 10,000 feet in Telluride these cookies took quite a bit longer to cook through, about 19-20 minutes.  Use your judgement and taste preference to determine baking time.)
8. Let cool about 5 minutes and place on cooling racks.
9. Dust with powdered sugar.
10. Munch Away!!!

Fresh Variations:

1. There has been no Pumpkin in the stores lately, but of course you can use 1 Cup of Pumpkin instead of Sweet Potato.
2. Add 1/2 cup of Toasted Nuts: Pecans would be delicious!
3. Add 1/2 cup of Toasted Coconut.