Healthy Sweet Potato Breakfast Cookies – made with desiccated coconut, a variety of seeds, mashed sweet potato and sweetened with coconut sugar | Paleo + Vegan
I love living in a world in which breakfast cookies are a thing. Breakfast anything really – breakfast cookies, breakfast cake, breakfast PIZZA.
What a time to be alive, friends.
I’m glad we’ve all found a way to make cookies for breakfast a socially acceptable thing. I mean – I’d still eat them anyways. I’ve never been one to discriminate against any type of cookie at any time of day. I’m just glad we can all agree on cookies.
Now let’s chat about these Sweet Potato Breakfast Cookies aka your new favourite breakfast cookies.
Aside from being totally delicious these cookies are:
✔️Paleo
✔️Vegan
✔️Nut Free
✔️Easy to make
✔️Soft & chewy on the inside
✔️Slightly crunchy on outside
✔️Packed full of nutritious ingredients
I could go on, but I don’t want to keep your from your cookies much longer
How to Make: Sweet Potato Breakfast Cookies
As I mentioned above these cookies are super easy to make – made in one bowl and ready in less than 30 minutes!
Unlike most breakfast cookies these are oat free which is great for all your coeliac’s who still have to be wary about eating even certified gluten free oats. Instead of relying on rolled oats for the bulk & texture in these cookies we’re working with desiccated/shredded coconut and a mixture of a few different seeds.
At the very base of this recipe is mashed sweet potato. The sweet potato adds bulk, sweetness, and extra nutrition. It also means that we don’t need as much oil/fat as most cookies recipes do.
In order to get the mashed sweet potato – there are a couple of ways you can go about it.
Option 1 (fast way): Poke a sweet potato all over with a fork and then microwave for about 4-5 minutes until soft and tender. Large sweet potatoes will need more time than small potatoes. Once microwaved, let cool for about 10 minutes before handling and the slice the potato down the middle and scoop out the insides. The peel should easily come off at this point. Then just use a fork or potato masher to mash until smooth.
Option 2 (long way): Poke a sweet potato all over with a fork and then bake in the oven for 45-60 minutes at 400°F/205°C. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes before handling. Slice down the centre of the potato and scoop out the insides. Use a fork or potato masher and mash until smooth.
I haven’t tried these with bananas yet, but I’m fairly confident that you can use that if you prefer. Pumpkin is another substitute that should work. I’ve got another few weeks before the canned pumpkin should start showing up on store shelves here. Once they come back I’m going to be in full fall mode making these every chance I get!
All in all these cookies are simple, tasty, and dare I say good for you! They’re great if you want a grab and go snack to start your day, or something a little sweet to go along with your coffee or tea.
However you eat these – I just hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
Sweet Potato Breakfast Cookies
Healthy Sweet Potato Breakfast Cookies - made with desiccated coconut, a variety of seeds, mashed sweet potato and sweetened with coconut sugar | Paleo + Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seed + 3 tablespoons cold water mixed together
- 1/2 cup | 130 grams mashed sweet potato
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons coconut sugar (65 g)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (56 g)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened desiccated coconut (135 g)
- 1/4 cup | 25 grams pumpkin seeds (37 g)
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds (10g)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C and line or grease a large baking sheet.
- Flax Egg: Combine 1 tablespoon ground flax seed (or chia seeds) with 3 tablespoons cold water. Whisk until combined and place in the fridge for at least 5 minutes while you prep the cookies. When the 'egg' has thickened and gelled up it's ready to use.
- In a large mixing bowl with an electric or stand mixer - beat together the mashed sweet potato and coconut sugar. Stir in the melted coconut oil.
- Add cinnamon, nutmeg, coconut, pumpkin seeds and chia seeds and mix until well combined. Mix in the flax egg.
- Scoop the cookie dough out about 2 tablespoons at a time. Roll into little balls and then flatten out on the tray. The cookies won't spread while baking so shape them as you like.
- Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden. Let cool on the baking tray for about 5 minutes before transferring the a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Keep these stored in an airtight container for 4-5 days.
bonnie pariser says
I used coconut flour since I didn’t have the dessicated coconut and maple syrup since I don’t like coconut sugar. They were the perfect consistency. I hope I can replicate as my family just about finished all of them today. Even my daughter who does not like sweet potatoes liked them. Thanks for the recipe!
Sarah says
Ooh thanks for sharing that Bonnie – that’s really helpful to know about the coconut flour & maple! SO glad you and your family enjoyed them!
Carla says
Can you tell me how much coconut flour and maple syrup you used? I’m just about out of desiccated coconut. Thanks.
Mary says
I just tried these cookies and absolutely love them! I used a light olive oil instead of the coconut oil and brown sugar in place of the coconut sugar. They are sublime. Thanks so much.
Sarah says
Yay! So glad you liked them! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know what you thought!
Jill says
These came out delicious! thanks for the recipe. 🙂
Sarah says
Yay! So glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for coming back to share!
C says
Hi Sarah!
Could you recommend a substitute for the coconut oil please?
Sarah says
The only other oil that I’m fairly confident that would work here is palm oil since it’s pretty similar to coconut oil. I think butter/vegan butter might also work though haven’t tried those out so I can’t say for sure
Alyssa says
Can honey be used instead of coconut sugar?
Sarah says
Hi Alyssa! I wouldn’t recommend using honey or other liquid based sweeteners for these cookies since it’s already has to many wet ingredients – it wouldn’t hold shape quite as well. You could probably sub the coconut sugar with brown sugar though if you need a substitution there
k says
I didn’t use chia and just a bit of coconut…..they are a runny mess on the baking sheet once cooked LOL
Sarah says
Hi K! Sorry to hear that! I’d recommend using the full coconut of amount next time – thats what makes up the bulk of the recipe and not using all the coconut is like not using the full amount of flour in a regular chocolate chip cookie recipe. Hope it at least tasted alright!
Rebecca says
Can you use an egg instead of the flax egg? I’m not vegan.
Sarah says
Hi Rebecca – I haven’t tried these with a flax egg so I’m not sure yet how they would work. If you do try it out please let me know!
Kay says
I used 1 egg and omitted the chia seeds. If you do this, I would suggest a little more coconut maybe. I had to cook mine a touch longer. They are still really yummy though! I also threw them once cooled into the freezer. A cool treat for the warm days we’ve had.
Sarah says
Thanks for sharing that Kay! So glad you liked them!
Samantha says
Hi Sarah, what would you suggest to substitute the desiccated coconut? Since so much is added, would leaving it out altogether affect the mold or texture of the cookie? Thanks!
Sarah says
If you can tolerate oats you could try subbing that! I don’t recommend just leaving it out all together though – I don’t think the cookies would hold/amount to much
Darla says
Are there nutritional values posted somewhere?
Thanks
Sarah says
Hi Darla – just updated the recipe to include it! Here you go: Serving size: 1 cookie Calories: 196 Fat: 17 g Saturated fat: 14 g Carbohydrates: 12 g Sugar: 6 g Fiber: 3 g Protein: 4 g
Jp says
Why does this differ so much from what appears under the recipe?
Sarah Nevins says
Whoops! Thanks for pointing that out to me! The nutritional info is automatically calculated by the plugin that I use to create the recipe card. Unfortunately, whatever technology it uses to calculate nutrition often mismatches ingredients which makes for inaccurate data. I usually cross check it using myfitnesspal but I must have forgotten to save the changes here. Sorry about that!
deb pemberton says
do these have rolled oats in them I see you mention it in your comments but does not call for them in recipe
Sarah says
No oats! I say that the cookies are oat free in the post