Sweet Potato Oatmeal Cookies

These sweet potato cookies are a vegan and gluten free recipe that are perfect for Fall! With lots of chocolate chunks, oats and spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. They’re perfectly sweet, nut free and so easy to make.

Last year, I may have over done it on the pumpkin recipes, so this Fall, we’re focusing on all things sweet potato and apple! Like my sweet potato casserole which I can’t wait to have on Thanksgiving.

Starting with these simple sweet potato cookies. They’re kind of like a cross between a pumpkin cookie and oatmeal cookie, but with sweet potato instead of pumpkin! These vegan oatmeal cookies are spiced with a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger for all of those delicious Fall flavors. Trust me, they are just SO good.

Since sweet potato acts as a really good binder in cookies, this recipe is naturally completely egg free and vegan if you use dairy free butter! If you love this recipe, try my sweet potato muffins, breakfast cookies or gluten free monster cookies next.

Tips before we get started…

• If you aren’t feeling the sweet potato, you can easily swap that for pumpkin. No other changes are needed.
• I prefer cookies with quick oats, but you can also use old fashioned if that’s what you have. The texture of the cookies will just be a little different!

How to make sweet potato cookies

Cream wet ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and both sugars for 1 minute. Add in the sweet potato and vanilla and beat until combined.

Beat in dry ingredients. Add in the flour, baking soda, spices and salt. Beat until combined. Fold in the oats and chocolate until an even dough forms.

Scoop. Scoop using a medium cookie scoop or 2 tablespoons. Press extra chocolate on top if desired.

Bake & serve. Bake for 13-17 minutes, I usually do 15. They will continue to firm up as they cool. Let cool completely, then enjoy! Try my carrot cake cookies or iced oatmeal cookies next!

Key Ingredients & swaps

Butter. I used regular butter, but dairy free butter works just as well. Be sure it is softened or at room temperature so it creams really easily with the sugars.

Sugar. You need a mix of white and brown sugar which will add moisture but also help provide a nice crispy edge to the cookies.

Flour. I of course used gluten free flour, but regular all purpose flour will work just as well. Be sure to spoon and level so you don’t end up with too much! Unfortunately, you cannot sub the all purpose flour with almond flour in this recipe. That would completely change the proportions and the almond flour won’t absorb the wet ingredients in the same way all purpose flour does.

Oats. I always prefer using quick oats in my cookies, but you can swap for rolled oats if that’s what you have on hand.

Sweet potato. To make life easier, we’ll just use sweet potato puree from a can! For my sweet potato cake, we’ll be using fresh roasted sweet potatoes.

Chocolate. My go to chocolate for baking is semi-sweet, but you can use whatever you like! Milk chocolate if you’re not vegan, dark chocolate if you like a rich and bitter flavor, or something in between! You’re also welcome to leave out the chocolate entirely or sub for raisins, chopped nuts etc.

How to store and freeze

These sweet potato cookies (like my almond flour pumpkin cookies) will keep at room temperature for about 3 days in a container. Because of the fresh ingredients, they do get a bit soft if left completely covered, so keep the lid slightly ajar.

You can also freeze the cookies, either before or after baking! To freeze just the dough, scoop into balls, then place in a freezer safe bag. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for a few extra minutes to account for the frozen dough.

To freeze after baking, allow the cookies to cool completely, then transfer to a freezer safe bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Reheat in the oven at 300 until warm through the center!

Tips for soft cookies

If you’re like me and love really soft and chewy cookies, I have a few tricks for you to ensure you get those crisp edges but gooey centers.

First, use a mix of white and brown sugar. Brown sugar has a higher molasses content which will yield softer cookies than those baked with all white sugar. The balance of the two helps create the slightly crisp edges!

Second, slightly underbake your cookies! There’s nothing worse than dry and hard cookies. They always firm up after they come out of the oven, so be sure to take them out when the center still looks a bit soft if you love that soft and chewy texture.

More cookies you’ll love!

• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Almond Flour Sugar Cookies
• Oat Flour Cookies
• Lemon Blueberry Cookies
• Oatmeal Cookie Bars

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