A Taste of Bulmer: Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am obsessed with Joy the Baker. I purchased her cookbook back in April, and have read it cover to cover probably 10 times. I recently discovered her blog and podcast and cannot stop listening to it. She. is. a. riot. I love that she is so real and goofy and honest. I want to be her friend. Joy...if you're reading this, I feel like we would really get along :)

After my Julia Child inspiration on Sunday, I decided to search through Joy the Baker Cookbook for something to bake. The first page I opened to was Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Ummm done and done, Ms. Joy. I just happened to have purchased a bag full of sweet potatoes on Thursday, so this was so meant to be.

As Joy instructs, pierce your sweet potatoes with a fork, place them on a baking sheet atop of parchment paper, and then stick them into a preheated 400 degree oven. Those bad boys need to roast for about 40 minutes, until tender enough that they fall off of your fork when you try to poke one and pick it up. After that, I ventured off Joy's cookie path of goodness, and got a little craaazyy with the ingredients. And when I say crazy, I mean not that crazy at all. I really mean whole wheat flour and a spice variation...that's really it.

1 cup of white flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour for some hearty goodness.

Next, round up your baking essentials. 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon of ground allspice (Joy's recipe calls for 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves and 1/4 teaspoon of coriander...I had neither, so allspice it was!).

Pour all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, and mix!

Gather two large eggs (when I just wrote gather, I immediately pictured you all running out to your hen houses to gather eggs...unrealistic, but I still thought the photo was funny and ironic).

1 cup of packed brown sugar.

Measure out 1/2 cup of vegetable oil. Notice my amazing left handed measuring cup. Thank you for the heirloom, Mimi!

Start by whisking together those lovely, brown, organic, cage-free eggs. Everyone has super expensive eggs because they feel guilty about buying anything other than the organic, cage-free variety...right?

Dump in that gorgeous brown sugar.

Continue to whisk until it's thick and combined. It should be a tan color when you're finished. I whisked my mixture for about 2 minutes. Then add in the oil and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Whisk until combined.

After forty minutes has passed, check on that sweet potato that has been roasting away in the oven. If it is tender enough (as described above), pull your pan out of the oven, and let the potato sit for about 5 minutes to cool. Then peel off the skin, and mash with a fork.

Mashed (sweet) potato, mashed (sweet) potato! Look at all the orangey goodness.

Dump the cooled, mashed sweet potato into your egg/sugar/oil/vanilla mixture.

Mix that all up with a spatula, and then dump into the dry flour mixture.

Fold the wet mixture into the dry mixture.

....and fold.....

...and fold....

...and fold until you can no longer see any strokes of flour. I decided to opt out of the chocolate chips for my first batch, simply on the grounds that I thought this cookie would be delicious enough without the overpowering flavor of chocolate.

Drop heaping tablespoons of batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Stick the baking sheet into the oven at 350 degrees and bake for about 12 minutes. I found that as soon as the outside of the cookie started to brown, it was done. Because these cookies are more dense and cake like, it is important not to overcook them.