Sweet Potato Cookies with Homemade Streusel - Lauren's Latest (2024)

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Sweet Potato Cookies are soft and lightly spiced cookies make with mashed sweet potato, topped with homemade streusel and powdered sugar. A perfect dessert for Fall!

Sweet Potato Cookies | With Homemade Streusel

I really didn’t want to post this sweet potato cookies recipe. Like really really didn’t want to because these aren’t the prettiest photos in the world. Like these cookies are gorgeous. These ones are also pretty. But these? Notsomuch.

However, after eating NINE of these over the course of 8 hours, I decided it would be in my best interest to post the recipe because they were that good. I needed to share the glory.

Now, I know what you’re thinking.

Mashed sweet potato in cookies? Gross.

But believe me when I say you are wrong!! Vegetables in cookies are actually good! I don’t eat nine cookies just for the fun of it. Usually. I need a treat that is calorically worthy enough to keep my thighs at their current size and this dessert fits the bill a little too well 😉

Main Ingredients Needed

Mashed sweet potato is stirred into this cookie dough along with some spices like cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Scoop these onto a baking sheet, top with a simple, homemade streusel, and dust with powdered sugar. It keeps these cookies soft and moist. Anyway, here’s everything you’ll need to make these Sweet Potato Cookies:

• Flour – this fills out these cookies.
• Baking Powder + Baking Soda – for rise and lift, especially because the sweet potato makes things a litte more moist than normal.
• Cinnamon, Nutmeg, + Cloves – three warm spices to compliment the sweet potato.
• Salt – to balance the flavors.
• Sugar – for sweetness.
• Egg – for structure and texture.
• Vanilla – for flavor.
• Butter – for moisture and texture.
• Sweet Potato – this needs to be cooked and mashed! To cook simply roast sweet potatoes whole at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until very tender. Cool completely, peel and mash. Store in airtight container in fridge for up to 4 days.

For the Streusel

• Butter – for flavor and to hold the ingredients together.
• Flour – so the butter doesn’t go everywhere when baking.
• Brown Sugar – to sweeten.
• Salt + Cinnamon – for flavor.
• Powdered Sugar – this is an optional, but highly recommended, garnish!

Can I replace the sweet potato for pumpkin?

Those warm spices will have people guessing if these are pumpkin cookies which is never a bad thing, right? I asked Brooke and Blake to guess what the secret ingredient was and they guessed pumpkin. Soooo, that is winning at life, folks. Everyone loves pumpkin.

And actually, pumpkin could probably work as a great substitution in this recipe because the compositions of sweet potato vs. are so darn similar. Just be sure to use pumpkin puree found canned at the grocery store.

Speaking of pumpkin, here are some pumpkin cookies you should try: Pumpkin Cookies, Pumpkin Whoopie Pies, Pumpkin Sugar Cookies, and Double Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Cookies.

How to Make Sweet Potato Cookies

I like to top these cookies with streusel because everything tastes better with streusel, and then add some powdered sugar to fancy them up a bit and make them look more like a coffee cake 🙂 For full details on how to make these Sweet Potato Cookies, see the recipe card down below!

Step 1: Preheat + Prep

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.

Step 2: Make Cookie Dough

In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and sugar together to combine. Create a well in the center for the wet ingredients.

Crack the egg and measure out the remaining wet ingredients into the well. Stir slowly, incorporating more and more dry ingredients into the wet until just stirred.

Step 3: Scoop + Shape

Scoop onto prepared baking sheets using a 1 1/2 tablespoon scoop. Wet your fingers and create indents in each cookie, as if you were creating thumbprint cookies. Set aside.

Step 4: For the Streusel

For the streusel: stir butter, flour, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon together until crumbly. Sprinkle over each cookie, to fill up the indentation.

Step 5: Bake + Cool

Bake 8-10 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly golden and the cookies appear dull and no longer shiny. Cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to cooling racks.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve. Store in airtight containers at room temperature for up to 3 days.

More Sweet Potato Desserts to Try!

• Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with Walnut Streusel!
• Sweet Potato Cupcakes
• Sweet Potato Pie
• Sweet Potato Casserole
• Sweet Potato Tart

The finished product is a sweet, soft, mildly spicy, and chewy sweet potato cookie that will last a couple of days in an airtight container, though I don’t see these lasting that long. They are that good. (I really really loved these!)

Anyways, the printable version of this recipe is down below. Give these a try this weekend!!