Vincent Valdez approves of these cookies!

Mark and I began filming a short documentary today with artist Vincent Valdez. Yesterday was Vincent’s birthday so I decided to bake him some cookies as a gift. Any excuse to bake cookies will do, really. I had made these Sweet Potato Cookies a while back as an entry for Artpace’s Community Potluck Dinner & Throwdown. I didn’t win, but now I know why: I didn’t use peanut butter! It happened out of necessity when I discovered I was out of Vegan Smart Balance so I thought “Well, I have some peanut butter”. It worked really well! I also added walnuts, which really makes everything better.

Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Walnut Cookies

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2/3 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/2 cup sweet potato puree
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup raw sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup walnut pieces

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. Mix the first five dry ingredients together and in a separate bowl mix the next four ingredients until smooth. Slowly mix in the wet to dry ingredients, it will be a thick sticky consistency, then add the walnuts in last. Drop large spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and use the back of spoon flatten them. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until brown. Let cool and enjoy with a glass of soy milk or share them with your favorite artist!

Thanks to Vincent for the positive feedback!

xo angie

Update: Watch our completed documentary on Vimeo: Vincent Valdez: Excerpts for John