Day 233: Secret-Ingredient Cookies with Pecans ♥

This blog's about vegetables, right? So you think a mere cookie rates an exception? No way!

Just like Day 199's Secret-Ingredient Chocolate Cake, today's cookies are moistened by a root vegetable. This one is orange. This one is ... sweet potato!

And the cookies are great! The sweet potato replaces fat in the way applesauce is so often called upon to do in low-fat baking. And the orange zing really shines through -- these are a definite keeper! *** yes, Domestic Goddess, these taste great ***

I experimented with a real short-cut for the sweet potato: baby food. In fact, the baby food puree had lots more flavor than the sweet potatoes cooked a couple of days ago for Sweet Potato Puff and Sweet Potato Biscuits.

For the Record:
  • This is A Veggie Venture's official entry in the online Cookie Swap going on over at Domestic Goddess through November 27th. There's still time for YOU to bake! That said, as good as they are, these cookies wouldn't work for a cookie swap: too messy to package up and carry home.
  • December 1 Update: Move over Martha Stewart -- all around the world, food bloggers have been baking with pounds of butters and kilos of flour and they're all summarized here.





VEGETABLE RECIPES from the ARCHIVES
~ more sweet potato recipes ~
~ more recipes with vegetables in desserts~

SECRET-INGREDIENT COOKIES with PECANS
Hands-on time: 25 minutes
Time to table: 60 minutes
Makes 30 cookies


4 tablespoons (1/2 a stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
12 ounces sweet potato baby food (Stage 2 seems better suited than Stage 3) or 1 cup cooked, pureed sweet potato
1 teaspoon vanilla
Zest of an orange (don't skip this)

1 1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans

GLAZE
1/2 cup powdered sugar
About 1 tablespoon orange juice, a few drops at a time

Pecans pieces or halves

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until very soft and creamy. Add the egg and beat well. Add the sweet potato, vanilla, zest and combine well.

::: Warning: unorthodox time- and dish-saving tip follows ::: Before measuring, stir the flours with a spoon right in the canister. The 'lightening' effect will be palpable and reduces the weight of the flour by as much as 25%. Doing this makes all baked goods lighter and less floury. Now measure the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt on top of the wet mixture but without incorporating it in. With a fork, stir them together lightly, still without incorporating them in. This replaces the sifting that recipes usually call for to lighten the flour. ::: Now incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until just mixed, then gently stir in the pecans.

With two spoons, one to scoop and one to scrape, spoon about a tablespoon of dough onto a cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes or until golden.

Meanwhile, mix the glaze ingredients. Spoon a spoonful over the warm cookies, then press a piece of pecan into the glaze.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Serving: 79 Cal (35% from Fat, 5% from Protein, 60% from Carb); 1 g Protein; 3 g Tot Fat; 1 g Sat Fat; 12 g Carb; 1 g Fiber; NET CARB 11; 19 mg Calcium; 0 mg Iron; 132 mg Sodium; 12 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 2 points

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT'S DUE
Around the Southern Table by Sarah Belk, a "new" favorite cookbook, that is, one long relegated to the bookshelf but now getting much-deserved attention!

Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. Alanna, I bet these are just great. Kind of like a pumpkin cookie! Very nice choice.

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  2. I love the idea of these cookies! Sweet potato packs in such a nutritive punch, and the baby food is a great idea.

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  3. Dear Alanna - it looks just yummy! What a wonderful treat! Thank you for the recipe details.

    Our My Dhaba's rock cookies are yet to be released from Il Forno. Hope you like those simple ones.

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  4. Hi Alanna--I LOVE this idea, and I love the way you inspire me into trying more veggies...THANKS!!

    P.S. I love pecans too...

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  5. So heeelllllllllllo all! These cookies just go to show how sometimes we really do have to sneak vegetables into the lives we love, including our own! Thanks for visiting, the kind words ... you definitely made my day! Alanna

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna