Mixing Bowl

Sage and sweet potato cookies

JUST ADD VEGETABLES Make sweet cookies even sweeter with sweet potatoes.

Tarmo Hannula

By SARAH RINGLER

Nuts and fruit have long been added to cookies, so why not vegetables—especially one called a sweet potato. Mashed sweet potatoes make a soft cookie and the addition of browned butter and sage give the cookies a subtle sophistication that may appeal to adults more than children.

Earlier in the year I featured cookies made with Romanesco, a cauliflower-like vegetable. It was adapted from a recipe by Canadian, Kate Hackworthy, who also inspired this one. She has a website full of provocative vegan and vegetable recipes including a bright green Vanilla Spinach cake from her cookbook, “Veggie Desserts + Cakes” by Pavilion Books.

Sage and sweet potatoes complement each other. I used Japanese sweet potatoes because I think they are the sweetest. Sage is an ancient plant that is part of the mint family and native to many parts of the world. It has thousands of different species that contain many different chemicals that create a vast rainbow of smells and tastes. It also has many medical uses and its Latin root means “health.” However, Common or Dalmatian sage often used in food preparation, contains thujone and camphor that are toxic to the nervous system if too much is consumed. Of course, I’m telling you this after maybe you, and certainly I, have eaten a ton of turkey and stuffing full of sage dressing over the last several days. If your nervous system feels shot, it wasn’t stress from all the eating, family or too much cleaning and cooking, it was the sage.

Sage and Sweet Potato Cookies

Wet ingredients:

1/2 cup butter 1/4 cup dried and crushed sage leaves 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 cup granulated white sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup mashed cooked sweet potato

Dry ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:

1/2 cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash sweet potato and stab a few times. Roast sweet potato for about 40 minutes depending on size. Peel and mash when done. Turn off oven.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter with dried and crushed sage leaves. Cook over medium low heat until butter becomes bubbly and gradually turns light brown and smells nutty. This takes 15 minutes more or less. Watch the heat. Remove from the heat and cool.

Whisk the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl.

Beat the melted butter and both sugars together in a mixing bowl. Add and beat the pureed sweet potato, egg and vanilla.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir together. Cover the dough and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven again to 350°F / 175°C. Line two large baking sheets with baking parchment paper.

Roll tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls, place onto the prepared baking sheets at one-inch apart, and flatten the balls slightly with the back of a spoon. Press some walnut bits into each cookie.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges get firm.

Allow the cookies to cool on the sheets for 10 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container for up to one week.