These super moist sweet potato cookies made with just 5 wholesome ingredients, including chickpeas, oats, and chia seeds, are perfect for babies and toddlers.
Soft and easy to grab, and packed with nutrients, these cookies are wonderful for baby led weaning and for those moving forward from purees to textured food.
What Makes These Perfect for Babies
I LOVE creating baby recipes with sweet potato. It’s one of the perfect first foods as it’s easy to manage when cooked properly and so nutritious!
These cookies are really really soft and moist, easy to grab, and contain many essential nutrients, including iron, healthy fat, vitamin A, potassium, and fiber.
Whether you’re doing baby led weaning or purees, this recipe is one you’ll want to have in your arsenal.
If you’re looking for another quick and easy baby-friendly cookie recipe, check out my 3 Ingredient Banana Cookies (3 ways).
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Ingredients
Sweet Potatoes. Since it does take some time to cook, I highly encourage you to roast a bunch ahead of time. That way you can enjoy it throughout the week!
You can also use other winter squash like butternut squash or pumpkin. Kabocha would be really good too! Ooh purple sweet potatoes!!
While fresh is better because it has more texture, you can use canned if looking for a shortcut. Just make sure sweet potatoes is the only ingredient.
Chickpeas. Can also use any white bean. If using canned, look for no-salt-added.
How to Cook Sweet Potatoes
Roasting is by far the best way to cook this delicious vegetable for these baby-friendly cookies. Magic truly happens in the oven as the roasting process caramelizes the sweet potatoes bringing out their natural flavor and sweetness!
It does take a long time though so that’s why I recommend roasting several to enjoy throughout the week.
- Scrub the potatoes.
- Line baking sheet with parchment paper for easy clean up.
- Pierce all over with a fork or knife.
- Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes to an hour, until super tender and easily mashable.
- Peel the skin and mash!
If you make extra extra, you can use it to make this creamy sweet potato pasta sauce!
Step By Step Instructions
1. Add the oats to the food processor/blender first. Then add the rest of the ingredients except for chia seeds.
2. Stir in chia seeds.
3. Transfer the batter to a baking sheet. I like to use a small ice cream scooper (affiliate link), but you can also use a spoon.
4. Working with slightly wet hands, gently push down the batter to flatten. Bake!
Cook’s Tips
- The batter is pretty thick and sticky. So when it comes time to flatten the cookies slightly, wet your fingertips a little bit (not too much!).
- Be careful not to overcook. They just need to spend a little time in the oven to firm up.
- These cookies are not very sweet but plenty sweet for babies, who have more tastebuds than us adults. If you’d like a little extra hint of sweetness, you can add maple syrup, banana, or unsweetened applesauce.
Serving Suggestions
Oh you are so going to love the batter after all the ingredients have been blended together! Instead of turning it into cookies, you can serve as a dip with vegetables, sauce for pasta, or spread for bread/tortilla, to suggest a few.
You can add water, milk, or even breastmilk to thin out the batter to desired consistency.
When baked as a cookie, you can top with nut or seed butters, tahini, melted butter, etc. for extra protein and/or healthy fat!
Storage Suggestions
These sweet potato cookies will get sweeter over time, you’ll see.
Store in an airtight container for 1-2 days or in the fridge for up to a week. Or you can freeze for up to 3 months using this method.
Other Baby-Friendly Sweet Potato Recipes
- Spinach Sweet Potato Blender Muffins
- Loaded Southwestern Quinoa Sweet Potatoes
- One Pot Vegetarian Mexican Lentils
- Vegan African Peanut Stew
For SIMPLE, REALISTIC tips and strategies for adding variety to your child’s diet, join my FREE email series! you’ll also receive a super handy Vegetable and Spice Pairing chart!
Sweet Potato Chickpea Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (50g) rolled oats
- 1 cup (220g) cooked, mashed sweet potatoes, about 1 medium potato
- 1/2 cup (70g) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons chia seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Add the oats to the food processor/blender first. Then add the rest of the ingredients except for chia seeds.Â
- Blend until smooth. If going to enjoy as a dip, spread, or sauce then add liquid of choice (water, milk, breastmilk) etc. to thin out the batter to desired consistency.
- Stir in chia seeds. Combine well.
- Using a mini ice cream scooper or a spoon, transfer the batter to a lined or greased baking sheet. You'll end up with 8-9 cookies.
- Wet your fingertips a little bit and gently push down the batter to flatten slightly.Â
- Bake for 10 minutes. Let it cool completely.
Equipment
Notes
- The batter is pretty thick and sticky. So when it comes time to flatten the cookies slightly, wet your fingertips a little bit (not too much!).
- Be careful not to overcook. They just need to spend a little time in the oven to firm up.
- These cookies are not very sweet but plenty sweet for babies, who have more tastebuds than us adults. If you’d like a little extra hint of sweetness, you can add maple syrup, banana, or unsweetened applesauce.
- Serving suggestions: top with nut or seed butters, tahini, melted butter, etc. for extra protein and/or healthy fat
- Store in an airtight container for 1-2 days or in the fridge for up to a week. Or you can freeze for up to 3 months.
Hello. Do you need to pre-soak the chia seeds before use in the recipe? Thank you in advance!
hi! no need
Had some leftover roasted sweet potatoes so decided to give this a try. It was a hit with my daughter for snack time! The only thing I would do differently next time would be to blend the chickpeas first before adding in the mashed sweet potatoes. It didn’t blend too well when I had everything in there because the batter was so thick. But could be because my blender isn’t that strong haha. But great recipe and will be making more of this!
Thank you so much for this feedback!
These are so easy to make and are seriously the best mess free, healthy snack for my toddler. He LOVES them.
So happy to hear!
These are amazing! I think I probably ate more of these than my daughter during baby-led weaning because they’re so filling and nutritious! Added almond butter after I warmed them up and they are amazinggggg
That’s what I do too!! love it!
Wow! These are AWESOME–no more need to buy overpriced packaged kids snacks that often have a lot of added sugar or have little to no protein and fiber. This is our go-to cookie recipe-thanks Min!!
My almost 14 month old loves these! Sweet potatoes are one of the few things he’s not finicky about, so these have been a consistent hit for the past couple of months. I froze most of the batch, and they defrost beautifully to pack for daycare.
Thanks for sharing mama! So glad these are a hit!!
Hi,
Does the chickpea have to be cooked first?
Yes! I like to use no-salt-added canned
Can I use quick oats instead of rolled oats for this recipe? If so, is the amount the same? Thank you!
You can since you’re turning it into flour and yes the same amount 😉
Hi Min, if I use butternut squash instead of sweet potato, do you suggest adding a little sweetener? Thanks!
Hi! Yes you can. I would maybe add a little bit of mashed banana, applesauce, honey (if your child is over 1), or a splash of maple syrup
Hi Min,
I don’t have chia seed. Can I substitute with something else?
Btw, a big fan. 🙂
Hi Ally, Thank you so much! You can use other seeds (like flax, hemp) for that extra boost of healthy fat or you can leave it out completely
I just made these for my baby. He loved it!
YAY!!! SO glad to hear 😉
Hello! Thank you for sharing this recipe! Are the chickpeas dried or are they from a can? Thank you!
from a can for convenience. You can use dried just be sure they’re cooked
How many does this recipe make?
8 cookies. You can easily double or triple the recipe 😉
Hi Min, is it ok for me to omit the chickpea for this recipe?
I’d substitute with other beans before omitting completely. You can try adding more oats too. Unfortunately, haven’t tried making these without the chickpeas so can’t tell you exact measurements. But if you, do let me know how they turn out!