Vegan Sweet Potato Cookies

If you’re looking for a healthier cookie option, you’re going to love these delicious sweet potato cookie! Sweet potato pairs perfectly with maple syrup, oats, cinnamon and nut butter for a wonderfully buttery texture – without butter!

These cookies are vegan (no eggs and dairy-free) and are naturally gluten-free. They also have no added oil and are naturally sweetened with wholesome maple syrup.

These cookies are healthy enough for breakfast or an everyday snack but totally decadent enough for dessert too, especially if you add chocolate chips! Fun to make and even more fun to eat, enjoy these any time for a sweet treat!.

Why You’ll Love these Cookies

• Dietary Needs: These cookies are vegan, gluten-free, oil-free and flourless!
• Ingredient Highlights: No flour, no eggs and no dairy needed!
• Easy to make in one bowl in 20 minutes with simple ingredients.
• Soft texture and delicious sweet and spiced flavour.
• Great way to sneak nutritious sweet potato into your diet.
• Perfect healthier dessert or snack anytime of day.

Ingredient Notes

Complete list of ingredients with amounts and instructions is located in the recipe card below.

• sweet potato – you’ll need cooked, mashed sweet potato for the recipe, if you don’t have any on hand, use this how-to guide for baking sweet potato
• oats – rolled oats, large flake oats and quick oats all work
• maple syrup – use pure maple syrup or substitute with agave syrup if needed
• peanut butter – use natural peanut butter (no added oils or sugar), if you can’t do peanut butter, almond or cashew butter works
• flax – make sure you’re using ground flax, not whole flaxseeds
• baking soda – this is totally optional but I like the texture and bit of “cookie” flavour it added
• spices – I’d recommend using the ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon for the yummiest flavour but if you’re missing ginger or nutmeg, that’s ok
• chocolate – use dairy-free chocolate chips like Enjoy Life or Camino or for a lower-sugar option, you can use chopped dark chocolate or sugar-free chocolate chips
• pepitas – aka raw pumpkin seeds, optional but a nice addition! walnuts, pecans, coconut or any other add-in would also work here

How to Make Sweet Potato Cookies

Before You Start: Line a baking tray with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350 F.

Note that you’ll need cooled and mashed sweet potato to make the cookies. If you don’t have any on hand, you can bake some in the oven according to this recipe or use your preferred cooking method.

Step 1. Add the vanilla, sweet potato maple, syrup and peanut butter to a large mixing bowl and stir until completely smooth.

Step 2. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir into a thick, sticky dough.

Step 3. Use a spoon or cookie scoop to divide the dough into 14 cookies on the baking tray.

The cookies will not spread or change shape during baking, so press each down a little to create the shape you want before baking.

Bake for 16 minutes then let cool on the pan for at least 20 minutes. After that, they’re ready to enjoy!

Quick Note: The cookies will be fragile when they first come out of the oven, so make sure you let them cool before handling!

Recipe Variation

This recipe as written was the best tasting version but it can be adjusted to suit your nutritional needs. For a somewhat healthier cookie that uses half the amount of fat and sweetener, you can use:

• 1 cup sweet potato
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup peanut butter

This version is denser and more like baked oatmeal or a dense muffin but is lower in sugar, calories and fat. It depends what kind of cookie you’re looking for! They’d be more like my banana baked oatmeal or pumpkin oatmeal bars.

I also tried just about every ratio of sweet potato to maple syrup and nut butter in between and they all work but some are tastier than others so feel free to experiment with what works for you.

Storing

• Let cool completely before storing.
• Fridge: Store in a sealed container for up to 1 week.
• Freezer: Store in a sealed container or freezer bag for up to 3 months.
• Room Temperature: Store in a sealed container for 3-4 days.