Let your childhood dreams blend with your responsible side with these healthy cookies that you can eat for breakfast.
These are truly the definition of healthy cookies. Mashed sweet potato, almond butter, maple syrup, walnuts—these add up to provide tons of nutrients and protein. Need more convincing? They’re paleo and flourless, are super easy to make, and taste great.
I adapted this recipe from The Paleo Mama and was not disappointed. I became skeptical halfway through when I was pouring the batter out onto the cookie sheet because the dough looked runny and I was afraid they would just spread out and burn, but they didn’t! So don’t add in flour or anything to thicken it up—they will fluff up in the oven.
I sealed mine up in an airtight bag and ate them throughout the week because they act as a really convenient snack in the morning when you’re not in the mood for anything heavy. They’re also not too sweet and have adjustable flavours: feel free to use your own mix-ins instead of the ones I listed below.
Ingredients
Makes about 20 cookies
- 1/2 cup almond butter
- 1/2 cup sweet potato purée (I roasted a whole sweet potato in aluminum foil for about 40 minutes on 350 degrees F—scooped out and mashed the insides)
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. nutmeg
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. finely ground salt
- 1/2 cup peanut butter chips
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- A few whole walnuts for topping
Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
With an electric hand mixer, beat together the almond butter, sweet potato, maple syrup, eggs and vanilla. Discard the hand mixer and stir from this point on with a rubber spatula or spoon. Add in the baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt—stir until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Fold in the peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, walnuts and dried cranberries. Carefully pour small circles of batter onto a lined baking sheet (roughly 1 1/2 teaspoons each) and place a whole walnut in the centre, lightly pushing it down so that it stays in place but does not spread the cookie too thin.
Bake for 10-13 minutes until lightly browned on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes before diving in. Be careful removing the cookies from the pan—they can be fragile. Store in an airtight container for 5 days and enjoy as a breakfast treat or on-the-go snack all week.
the vegetarian ginger 
What is the calorie count?
Hi Rosa, I currently don’t have a solid way of counting calories in my recipes. I’ve been looking into this for a while though and can hopefully start providing this information soon! In the meantime, you can try using calorie counters online, I just don’t know if they will produce realistic results.
just eat one, and freeze the rest. That way, you will have a treat without feeling guilty. I do not believe in dieting. It took a long time to put the weight on, so don’t rush trying to take it off. You will only gain it back. By slowly cutting back, you will stay with it.
If you are counting calories, don’t eat cookies. Just saying.
You can calculate nutritional content at caloriecount.com
Thanks Catherine!
These look great, I’m always looking for new cookie recipes, and excited to try ones with sweet potato!
They’re so simple and healthy, make for a nice change in the morning. Thanks for reading!
You had me at “breakfast cookie.” Looks delicious. I’ve been getting white sweet potatoes and was looking for recipes for them. This looks like a fun one for it!
I think I may have tried white sweet potatoes once, sounds like they’d be great. Hope you enjoy 🙂
What a wonderful idea! I’d love a cookie for breakfast any day 🙂
I think a few people scoffed when I called them breakfast cookies since it’s kind of an oxymoron to some people. Not to us! 😛
Thanks for a lovely recipe 🙂
Thanks for reading! Your blog is lovely as well
Oh I really like this idea, do you think I could use agave nectar rather than maple syrup? X
Absolutely! Syrup, honey, agave–they would all work. Nice alternatives to added sugars
To the extent that there’s any difference among sugars (sugar is sugar) agave is one of the least-healthy sugars; it’s profile is basically akin to high fructose corn syrup (i.e., in fructose content).
true! raw sugar or coconut sugar would be better. AS is very highly refined. and NOT low glycemic response as originally touted by producers!
This actually changed my whole perspective on what a cookie can be. I’ve had my share of cookies, and this has surprised (pleasantly) the most! Great Job! Keep ’em comin! I don’t even care if i get fat. 😛
These seem really original, creative and delicious and I’m bookmarking them. Thank you!
Reblogged this on Permacooking.
Yummy recipe! Reblogged on permacooking.com. Thanks!
I’d love to make the sweet potato walnut ones right now. I don’t have almond butter, maybe a substitute? Thanks for these, great ideas!!
I’m highly allergic to eggs and always trying to figure out a way to bake without them. Any ideas for a substitute for these?
To be honest I don’t have much experience with eggless cooking–I have heard that there are great “flax egg” substitutes that vegans often use, have you ever tried those?
Yeah they don’t work at all. 😦 when I read vegetarian I got excited that it might be egg free oh well! 😦
Sorry about that! I can’t imagine being allergic to eggs, good on you for still baking! I found this link that may be of help to you: http://chefinyou.com/egg-substitutes-cooking/
try ground flax or ground chia seed–2 T to 3/4 cup water, which well and allow to thicken 10 -15 minutes. Chia is very high protein and very good for you–high Omega 6’s, which counteract all the almond meal and flour used in Paleo baking–which is very high in Omega 6’s..
Thank you, Sue! I will keep this in mind for the future.
I made them the first time and they were great. Lasted nicely in the fridge. I didn’t have baking soda, so I used baking powder instead – all is well..
Made a second recipe since everyone loved them the first time. I bought baking soda and used it this time and things started looking weird: the inside of the cookie looked green. Then today, Tuesday, I made them on Sunday, they are black – and I didn’t burn them. They were out of the fridge for a few hours sitting on my desk, but the last batch were and they didn’t change colors. They still tasted good, but they look horrible. Is this the difference between the baking powder and the soda? The other ones were brown like the picture.
Please advise.
Hi Kim,
I’m glad they turned out well with your substitution the first time but I’m puzzled as to why they would be green or black the other time. If the only change was the baking powder vs baking soda it shouldn’t be so drastic that the colour is changed that much. Was that they only alteration to the recipe? I had great results with baking soda (the ones in the pictures) and haven’t tried baking soda, but even so I’m not sure why that would happen.
Sorry I can’t be of more help but hopefully this problem doesn’t persist!
The main effect of substituting baking soda for -powder is that the cookies would have been more acidic without the alkaline soda to neutralize the acidity of the maple syrup (and to a lesser extend the sweet potato) but I can’t see how that would effect color, just the taste.
… I made a mistake: I meant to write “… substituting baking powder for -soda”
Just made these and they were delicious! But much flatter and less puffy and cute like yours. Is it really just 1/2 cup sweet potato? For the second batch in the oven I mixed in another 1/4 cup or so and they seemed to hold their shape a little better.
Hi Catherine, glad to hear they were delicious but yes, I used a 1/2 cup. Baking is so finicky, if you feel adding some extra sweet potato helps, I wouldn’t hesitate.
My sister shared this and she raved about it, so I thought I’d try it. I didn’t have some of the ingredients, but after adjusting for what I did have I ended up with the most fluffy and moist chocolate cake thing that I’ve ever had! Thanks a bunch!
http://foodpantryfeasts.blogspot.com/2015/10/gluten-free-foraging.html?m=1
Hey Elizabeth, so glad you like the recipe! I see you had to go through some trial and error but it’s worth the effort 😉
Would those recipe work with stevia or splenda?
Hi Autumn, I have actually never tried cooking with artificial sweeteners before. I have read that they act as a good substitute in baking, but I can’t tell you for certain. Best of luck!
This is my first comment on a recipe. Ever. These are absolutely delicious. I’ve been making them once a week for my 19 month old and myself. I’m pregnant and these definitely satisfy my craving for sweets! I substituted white chocolate chips and I ended up liking them better! Fantastic recipe. Thank you!
Melanie, how nice of you to say! I’m so glad these have been a staple for you, I love them too 🙂