Purple Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies with Tahini Salted Caramel Drizzle

Makes 14 Cookies

These were supposed to be called “Secret-Ingredient-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies”, but as my 5 year old astutely pointed out with an exasperated look on her face, I gave away the secret in the photo! Having just discovered the wonder that is a purple sweet potato, here are my vegan, gluten-free cookies drizzled with Tahini Salted Caramel that are so very delicious I did a victory skip around my kitchen whilst eating one! Each cookie provides 190 calories, 5g of plant based protein, 4g of fibre and an enormous 56% of my daily Vitamin A requirement. You might be forgiven for thinking that those macros belong to some sort of salad, but no! All from the most deliciously gooey chocolate chip cookie that I have ever made! It’s quite rare that I get as excited over a new creation but I feel like this warrants all of the exclamation marks! They have the perfect combination of complex carbs from the oats, healthy fats and anti-inflammatory Omega 3’s from the walnuts and high amounts of Vitamin A from the sweet potatoes.

While all sweet potatoes are very high in Vitamin A and many other micronutrients; their main nutritional benefit, and the one for which purple sweet potatoes are especially prized, is their high antioxidant levels. Anthocyanin is the antioxidant pigment responsible for the amazing bright purple colour, and is the same pigment that gives blueberries, red grapes and red cabbage their wonderful colour too.

And don’t even get me started on the Tahini Salted Caramel drizzle….it lasts for ages and once you’ve made it, you will find an excuse to put it on every single damn thing you eat, including your finger straight outta the jar!

INGREDIENTS

For the Cookies

· 275g Mashed Purple Sweet Potato
· 140g Dates (quick soaked for ½ an hour in boiling water)
· 60g Walnuts (20g to crush and 40g to make into Walnut Meal)
· 150g Hazelnut Butter
· 25g Gluten-free Oat Flour
· 20g Gluten-Free Oats
· 30g Dark Chocolate Chips
· 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
· 1 Banana (the riper the better!)
· 1 tsp Baking Powder
· 1 tsp Baking Soda
· Pinch of Salt
· Optional — 20g Collagen Powder

For the Caramel Drizzle

· 2 Tbsp Tahini
· 2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
· 1 tsp Vanilla
· 1½ Tbsp Coconut Oil
· Pinch of Salt

METHOD

· Preheat oven to 180°C.
· Line 2 baking trays with non-stick parchment paper.
· Dice and steam the sweet potatoes for 10 mins or until tender. (TIP — No need to peel — the skins have a ton of fibre in. I used 1½ sweet pots but it obviously depends on their size.)
· Take 40g of walnuts and blitz them in the food processor to make walnut meal. NOTE — Any pre-prepared nut meal would work well here, I just didn’t have any to hand!
· Roughly chop the remaining 20g of walnuts to keep a bit of texture to the cookies.
· Set both aside.
· Put the steamed sweet potato, banana, soaked dates, vanilla extract and hazelnut butter into a food processor and blitz until smooth.
· In a large bowl combine all of the remaining ingredients (oat flour, oats, walnut meal, chopped walnuts, baking soda, baking powder, collagen powder, chocolate chips and salt).
· Add the sweet potato mixture into the large bowl and mix well.
· Spoon the batter onto the parchment lined baking tray and flatten slightly.
· Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven, press down gently with a fork, sprinkle with some sea salt and return to oven for a further 10 minutes.
· Remove from the oven and leave them to cool and harden slightly for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
· NOTE — I like mine crispy on the edges, but soft and gooey in the middle. Adjust cooking times according to how soft you like your cookies but remember that they will firm up more as they cool.
· For the Caramel drizzle — put all of the ingredients into a small saucepan and heat on a low heat for 5 minutes or until melted.
· Whisk together to fully combine. Drizzle on top of the cookies and store the leftovers in an airtight glass jar.

Nutritional InformatiON

Macros (without the drizzle)
Calories — 190
Fat — 10g
Carbohydrates — 23g
Protein — 5g
Fibre — 4g
Vitamin A — 56%