The Ultimate Trick For Soft And Chewy Cookies Is Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Most ingredient swap tips for chewy cookies involve changing the sugar for another kind of sweetener with more moisture, whether it's brown sugar, agave syrup, or corn syrup. But if you're looking for a healthier alternative, instead of molasses or syrups, try adding mashed sweet potatoes to your next cookie batch for that perfectly soft and chewy texture.

Mashed sweet potatoes add moisture for softness as well as some natural starch. While they don't have as much starch content as regular potatoes, the amount that they have is enough to add a bit of firmness and structure to the dough for that perfect amount of chew. Along with these texture-enhancing elements, you're also putting in all the fiber present in sweet potatoes, as well as vitamins A and C and manganese. Best of all, adding sweet potatoes actually lets you cut back on the amount of sugar in the cookies due to their natural sugar content. This sweetness isn't overwhelming, either: The subtle and earthy flavor complements tons of other additions, like chocolate chips or oatmeal, making sweet potatoes a versatile base for almost any kind of cookie.

With so many different kinds of sweet potatoes out there, we need to ask: What kind of sweet potato is best for cookies? While the nutritional content of these sweet potatoes is more or less the same, there are a few key differences to keep in mind. For one, white-fleshed sweet potatoes tend to be less sweet than the more colorful varieties, though they also come with a more toned-down flavor that might be better suited for some recipes. Orange and purple-fleshed sweet potatoes offer more flavor and also a striking color that will drastically change the appearance of your cookies. However, the color is due to the fact that the potatoes are rich in beta-carotene and anthocyanins respectively, both of which are powerful antioxidants that offer tons of health benefits. Then there's the Murasaki sweet potato to consider: Gold-fleshed and starchier than the rest, the Murasaki is a powerhouse of sweetness that'll really make a statement in your cookie.

Additionally, sweet potatoes aren't unique in being sweet, starchy, and moist when cooked and mashed. You can get similar results by using alternative vegetables like mashed taro or ube, or even pumpkin or squash purée for autumn-themed treats. There are endless options and flavor combinations to pursue to your liking, all of them healthier than your average cookie recipe. Once you start using starchy vegetable mash in your cookies, you'll probably find that you reach less often for sugar, molasses, or syrups while baking.