Guilt-Free Friday: Double Chocolate Sweet Potato Cake Cookies and Snow Ice Cream

It's cookie baking season!  I've got some good ones to share this time.  I was almost late posting this, it's been an eventful day, but I'm here just in time.  Unfortunately I forgot to snap a picture of these and they all got eaten up before I realized that, so I'm just going to have to make them again, darn...
*Update: just made more and now there are pictures, see below!  But they looked better on my phone than they do on the computer... but hopefully you get the idea...

A little update, here's our house as of Monday this past week - all the stone is finished on the garage and on that section that juts out, but obviously I haven't been too on-the-ball with the camera, so I'll have to get you an updated picture soon.  But we have soffit, siding, garage doors, custom kitchen backsplash windows, and a lot of progress on brick and stone.  And 8-10 inches of stone that came a bit too early, otherwise the masonry would be done... but oh well.

Here's our pretty town all lit up for Christmas... minus the giant bradford pear trees that used to really add something to the scene but I guess it's still pretty without them...

Justin got a deer!  Yay for meat in the freezer!  Not sure what kind of face Harlee is making there... hard to take pictures in the dark...

He LOVED the snow.  He did not want to come inside!

I finally convinced him to come in by bribing him with snow ice cream.  It was YUMMY!  Just fill a bowl up with snow, pour in about 1/4 cup of almond milk or coconut milk, a packet of stevia (like 1/4 tsp probably), and we added some chocolate chips too.  Mix it all together and voila!  Good stuff!

Had to get the kiddo some snow boots.  Those things are expensive knowing that they'll only be worn a handful of times... oh well, we'll make lots of memories playing in the snow in them.  I also dropped my phone in the toilet.  That was nice.  I hate how dependent I am on my phone, and how lost I felt without it, but I guess that's what happens when you run a business off the thing.  So we battled the nasty conditions and headed north to get me a new phone and Harlee some new boots.  Glad that's over with!

So.  The cookies.  Oh my these are heavenly.  They're based off of the sweet potato brownie recipe, but I got tired of picking brownies out of the pan and figured it would be easier to grab a cookie instead.  I altered the recipe so they'd hold up better like a cookie, and with great success!  They're super cakey and moist, mmm... These are definitely on my Christmas cookie list!  Once I make another batch I'll post a picture of them.

One fun memory of my Granny was last year she somehow got roped into making cookies every month for a good friend of the family.  I can't remember how exactly that all went down, I think he said he didn't think she'd make it an entire year delivering cookies to him every month, so she took it as a challenge and successfully made 12 batches of cookies, all with entertaining jokes attached like delivering them in a giant popcorn tin but stuffing the bottom 3/4 of it with packing peanuts so he THOUGHT he was getting a lot.  I think she delivered one batch in a hospital bed pan too...  Anyway, now that she's no longer with us, he wasn't sure who was going to supply him his Christmas cookies, so I offered, saying I needed a guinea pig for my healthy recipes.  He was a bit leery of the "healthy" aspect... but nonetheless I had Justin drop these cookies off for him and didn't tell him they were made of sweet potatoes, and he responded with great praise for them.  He loved them, and was very surprised to find out about the secret ingredient!  Harlee loved them too, and I must say I couldn't get enough, so they definitely passed the test.  Delicious.  Go make them.  Here's how:


2 small sweet potatoes, baked at 425 degrees for about 30-40 minutes or until soft and skin is peeling off.

3 eggs at room temperature

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1/2 cup honey (or liquid sweetener)

2/3 cup almond flour

3 tbsp coconut flour

4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

3/4+ cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Let the sweet potatoes cool to room temperature.  Beat the sweet potatoes and the eggs until soft peaks form.  Mix in the coconut oil and honey.  Add in all the dry ingredients except the chocolate chips and mix into a thick, sticky batter.  Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts (if you're adding those).  Spoon about a tablespoon of batter onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, each spoonful spaced about an inch or so apart (they don't spread out much).  Flatten them out a bit, as they don't do that very well on their own.  Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes.  Let cool and try not to eat them all at once!