This recipe is the perfect Valentine’s Day sweet treat, maybe for friends, maybe for that one special person. Feel free to decorate these festive cookies with pink, white, and red frosting. Be creative! Dig out those old cookie cutters and make some hearts once the cookies are finished cooking or even crumble them over some red velvet ice cream.

Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sweet potato? Yes, sweet potato. It gives the signature sweet taste of a cookie with a fluffy to-die-for consistency. This recipe is off the beaten path, simple, and very rewarding.

Ingredients:

¾ Cup mashed, cooked sweet potato (1 medium potato)

1 Cup butter, softened (2 sticks)

2 Eggs

¾ Cup sugar

¾ Cup packed brown sugar

1 Tsp. pure vanilla extract

½ Tsp. lemon extract

2 Cups all-purpose flour

1 Tsp. baking soda

1 Tsp. baking powder

Dash of salt

¼ Tsp. cinnamon

1 Cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 Cup chopped walnuts, optional

Instructions: Preheat oven to 300°. In a large bowl, cream together the cooked sweet potato, butter, eggs, sugars, and extracts. In a separate bowl, combine the flour baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the sweet potato mixture and beat until blended. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts, if using. Drop by the teaspoonful onto ungreased baking sheets and bake at 300° for about 25 minutes, until firm in the middle.