Iced Sweet Potato Cookies With Roasted Pecans!

The perfect marriage of Fall and Desert; these Iced Sweet Potato Cookies with Roasted Pecans go perfect with any holiday menu! The kitchen smells like Thanksgiving Day, and the cookies are a great blend of savory, spicy, and sweet.

Cookie Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour or white whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup puréed sweet potato (I used canned sweet potato)

1 large egg

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

7 ounces toasted pecans, chopped

Glaze Ingredients

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon milk

Pinch kosher salt

3 ounces toasted pecans, finely chopped

Supplies

Cookie Sheet(s)

Parchment Paper

Mixing Bowls

Measuring Cups

Mixer

Whisk

Various spoons, forks and knives as needed

Optional: Cooling Rack

The cookies bake at 375 degrees, so get that oven pre-heated.

Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside while you mix the ingredients. If you did not buy roasted pecans, this is a good time to roast them. I dumped the bag of the pecans onto the cookie sheet and parchment paper and popped them in the oven while I prepared the remaining ingredients.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg and put to the side.

Cream together the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. *Tip: If your butter isn't soft, put it in the bowl first and pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds. If it is still hard, microwave it for 10 more.

I recommend using an electric hand mixer on the lowest setting to mix these ingredients. The buttery-sugary blob can clog the mixers, so keep a knife handy to clear as needed.

After the butter and sugars are ready, add the sweet potato, egg, and vanilla, to the bowl and mix. The recipe calls for puréed sweet potato. I used sweet potato in a can that I removed from the syrup and mashed in a bowl with a large fork.

After you've mixed all of the ingredients above, put the mixer down and grab a large spoon. Gradually add the dry ingredients from the last step while mixing until just combined. Finally, pull those pecans out of the oven before they burn and stir a little over 2/3rds (7 ounces) into the mixture. You're ready to begin baking!

After your ingredients are mixed and the oven is pre-heated to 375 degrees, drop approximately 1” balls of dough onto the parchment paper. Keep the cookies 2 inches apart and aim for about a dozen (12) cookies on a sheet. I used an ice cream scoop for this, but a spoon would work fine.

Put the cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 10 minutes or until golden and just set. The recipe will yield two dozen cookies. I only have one cookie sheet, so I baked two batches. If you have two sheets, you can cook both at the same time.

After they are done baking, let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. I don't have a cooling rack, so I just put them on a cutting board to let cool completely.

You want the cookies to be cool before adding the glaze. I let them sit up for 20 minutes before making the glaze. This is a good time to wash all of the dirty dishes.

To make the glaze, put the powdered sugar, syrup, milk, and pinch of salt into a medium bowl and mix with a spoon. Drizzle the glaze over the cookies (I used the same mixing spoon) and then sprinkle the remaining pecans on top. It may be helpful to finely chop the pecans.

Enjoy the cookies! Each bite has a taste of those fall spices. The sweet potato makes for a more savory treat and the glaze adds enough sweet to remind you this is dessert. Leave a comment if you make the cookies and let me know what you think!