Vegan Cookie Monster Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had bought a purple yam and cooked it, not knowing what I was going to make with it.  It was pretty delicious, and it was tempting just to eat it, but it was so beautiful I thought it needed to be used in something.  I have seen people use them in recipes before to tint things a lovely purple hue, so I thought why not?!  I decided on cookies, not knowing that they would change color as they baked, and what I ended up with was these Vegan Cookie Monster Cookies!  That is what I am calling them, because Cookie Monster loves chocolate chip cookies and he is blue just like these cookies!  Seems very appropriate to me!  I used to love Sesame Street when I was a kid!

The thought to use the purple yam in these cookies came from the fact that I make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and I thought I could just substitute the sweet potato and make them purple. Purple is my second favorite color after all!  So I just swapped the pumpkin for purple sweet potato.  A note on that though, I needed to add a little water to the sweet potato to make it the consistency of the pumpkin so you will need to do this if you make the recipe.  It needed about 3 Tbsp. If you are mixing the dough and it seems too dry, then you did not add enough water.  Just add a touch more if that happens.

When I pulled these guys from the oven I expected to see purple but what I got instead was a lovely blue!  I looked up why this might have happened and it has to do with the sweet potatoes reacting with the baking soda.  Similar to how when I have used beets in recipes in the past expecting a lovely red or pink and I got brown.  But at least these turned a pretty color!  I thought it was pretty cool!

They smelled amazing while baking, the aroma of chocolate chip cookies filling my home.  My husband was excited to try some since he was enjoying their aroma when he arrived home from work!  They just taste like classic chocolate chip cookies, but of course they are a little more special thanks to the color!  They are the perfect consistency, chewy (how I like them) and perfect served warm with the chocolate chips still gooey!  If your favorite color is blue, if you love Cookie Monster, or maybe you just want to make something fun, give these Vegan Cookie Monster Chocolate Chip Cookies a try!

Vegan Cookie Monster Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 16

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup melted coconut oil
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup purple sweet potato puree* (see note)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or all purpose flour (for a lighter colored cookie)
• 1 cup vegan chocolate chunks

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees, and line two sheet pans with foil.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the coconut oil, sugar, yam puree and vanilla extract until well blended.
3. Mix in the salt, baking soda and baking powder then the flour until smooth.
4. Mix in the chocolate chips.
5. Form the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, and place on the cookie trays about 2 inches apart.
6. Press the dough balls down slightly.
7. Place the pans in the oven and bake for about 7 minutes, then rotate them and bake another 7 or so until the cookies are done and lightly brown at the edges.
8. Remove from the oven and let cool at least 15 minutes before enjoying.

*You want your sweet potato puree to be the  consistency of canned pumpkin or applesauce, and you may need to add a few Tablespoons of water to achieve this, if you sweet potato is on the drier side.  I added about 3 Tbsp water to mine.