When I was a little girl, one of my mom's friends made me a sweet rag doll to look like a brown haired angel. I named her Jean. She was designed just for me because, from what I am told, I had a problem with the fact that most of the pictures & figurines of angels I had ever come across were blonde. {I guess blondes do have more fun, even in Heaven. Go figure.} 😛
Anyway, I still have the doll to this day. {She mainly hangs out in the back of my closet, but hey, she could be worse off.} Here's a picture of her:
A few months ago I found a fabulous looking recipe for Sweet Potato Latkes posted by the ever-so-talented Jenna over at Eat, Live, Run. {She happens to be blonde & adorable, but I won't hold it against her like I did with the blonde-haired angels.} They looked so delicious, in fact, that I decided I could not wait another second to try them out and coerced my husband into letting me make them for dinner that very night. {He ate all but 2, which I managed to steal away before he devoured the entire stack.}
Jenna's recipe called for two sweet potatoes, shredded, which I happened to have ready in no time flat with my handy-dandy food processor shredding blade -- one of the Best. Inventions. Ever. But I digress... {What else is new?} It turns out that two sweet potatoes make an awful lot of sweet potato shreds. As in, enough to feed a pretty large crowd of latke-lovin' friends. And there are only two of us. What's a girl to do?
In this case, the girl consulted Food Network to see what else she could make with shredded sweet potato. And that's where I came across Brown Angel Iced Sweet Potato Cookies. Immediately, I thought of Jean, the brown haired angel. I'm pretty sure it was Divine Intervention.
I think they would have caught my eye anyway since the idea of "sweet potato" & "cookies" combined in one place are as good a reason as any to take a second look at something.
As unusual as these cookies may sound, they are worth breaking your cookie ingredient rules and making them. This recipe yields cakey little bites of sweet potato heaven. {What else do you expect from "angel" cookies. Hardy, har har...} Added bonus: They make your house smell like Fall. {Take THAT overpriced Bath & Body Works Candles!}
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| Seriously... Can't you smell these?? Ahh... |
I know we officially entered Fall a few weeks ago, but remember that Florida likes to take it's sweet time adjusting to the change of season. However, when college football once again becomes a part of our Saturday agenda, it's officially Fall in my world no matter what the thermostat tells me. The scent of these cookies just helps to make it feel all the more real.
Well... this wraps up Sweet Potato Week(s) {even though I had grand plans to share one more main course dish with you & never got around to it}. If ever you had any doubt that sweet potatoes are a versatile ingredient you should keep around your kitchen, here's your proof! Hope sweet potatoes will make an appearance in a few of your own recipes this Fall. 😉
Brown Angel Glazed Sweet Potato Cookies
Adapted from Food Network
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour {I used about ⅓ - ½ cup extra due to very wet looking dough}
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 stick butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups peeled and finely grated sweet potato
- 2 teaspoons grated orange zest {or ½ teaspoon orange extract if you find, last minute, you have no oranges! Not that that happened to me or anything....}
- ½ cup chopped pecans, optional
1 cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 tablespoon water or milk, depending on how thick you want glaze
In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and set aside.
Whisk together, with an electric mixer, the butter and sugar. Add the egg, brown sugar, vanilla extract, sweet potato and orange zest.
Carefully fold dry ingredients into butter-sugar mixture with a rubber spatula. Stir in the pecans, if using.
Drop spoonfuls of dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Once cooled, drizzle Cinnamon Glaze on each cookie.
For Cinnamon Glaze:
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Stir together, slowly adding water or milk one tablespoon at a time, until the desired consistency is reached. {I like it a little less runny so you can see it on top of the cookie.}