Bad Ass Yamekins

My mom calls me a "sweet potato kid". Apparently, when I was in the womb, sweet potatoes always made me rumble around in her tummy like a happy kitten. You can take the girl out of the womb, but sweet potatoes still make me grin like a loon.

So, I had a satchel of small sweet potatoes from TJ's and was in a savory snack mood. Plus, I have friends who don't like bananas or raisins.... What to do, what to do... Oh! Right! Invent cookies!

These are easy, healthy, and delicious. They require no tools more complicated than a fork. You're welcome. :)

Bad Ass Yamekins
(makes ~35 cookies)

4-5 small sweet potatoes, baked (makes about 1.5 cups sweet potatoes, mashed with a fork)
1 cup almond meal
1/4 cup flax seed meal
1/4 cup honey
1/8 cup agave nectar
1/3 cup egg whites
1/8 cup coconut oil, melted
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup sliced almonds (toasted, unsalted)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Paper a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Scrub the sweet potatoes well, lightly brush the outsides with olive oil and lay them on the cookie sheet. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

When the potatoes are cooled, remove the skins. [Sweet potato skins are a yummy snack. You can munch them as you cook or set them in a bowl in the fridge for later. Nom nom.]

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Place the peeled potatoes in a large mixing bowl, mash with fork. Add the cinnamon. Stir. Add the honey. Stir. (Make sure each time you stir that you're combining the elements well and leaving no lumps.) Add the almond meal and flax seed meal. Mix well. Add the coconut oil and egg whites. Stir. Add the baking powder. Mix until well combined. Add the agave nectar. Stir. *If you want, you can use a hand mixer, but I simply used a fork and whisked it through the mixture firmly and that turned out fantastic.

Once you've got your "batter" all mushy and blended, add the sliced almonds and mix with your fork until they're all through the mixture.

Paper two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Using the same mixing fork, drop one scoopful of the mixture, separated by about an inch. They won't expand outward.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven; let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets for about 10 minutes. Then remove to a drying rack to finish cooling the rest of the way. Enjoy! 

I was so excited about how these turned out, I dragged Janet out and made her try one. They have been approved by taste buds other than my own. These are simply awesome. Soft, moist, not too sweet. And best of all: there's no flour, no butter, and you get the protein from the eggs and the antioxidants, vitamin A, and vitamin C from the sweet potatoes. Crazy, right?