Sassy Maple-Sweet Potato Sandies, by Pete

Another popular cookie from Cookie Party was the Sweet Potato Bacon Sandy, by my friend Pete Woodward. He won the Best Cookie by a Man category with this one! Because everyone loves bacon! I will let Pete tell you a little about his amazing cookie creation.

Here is a link to the original recipe.  I found it using this amazing tool called "the googler" or something like that. 

I've got a maple/sweet potato/bacon casserole that I came up with last year that I really like to eat, so I thought it would be cool to see if I could replicate something similar in cookie form.  I did a search to see if anyone had blazed that trail for me, and I found this recipe, which provided a pretty solid starting point.

Sassy Maple-Sweet Potato Sandies (Recipe by Sugar Plum Blog- Modified by Peter Woodward)

1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

(Note from Pete: Nuts rarely, and coconut NEVER belong in cookies.  This is a science fact. These are in the original recipe and should be forgotten about.)

6 or so slices of thick sliced bacon

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

(Pete: I didn't have ground ginger on hand, so I used 1 teaspoon of Pumpkin Pie Spice and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, the result was super-delicious.)
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups finely grated North Carolina sweet potato - Though usually treated as interchangeable I would definitely opt for sweet potatoes over yams, they're sweeter.  Personally, I don't give a crap where they come from, uh, I mean,  make sure you buy them seasonally at your local farmer's market.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place pecans and coconut on a large cookie sheet. Bake 6-7 minutes or until lightly toasted and fragrant.

Fu…  I mean, Forget this too. 

Dice the bacon slices and fry over a medium heat until mostly crispy.  Try not to overcook or burn them as that might be overpowering in the finished result. Drain, and set aside on paper towels to cool.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together butter, brown sugar and sugar until creamy - about 1-2 minutes; beat in maple syrup, egg and vanilla until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined. Using a wooden spoon, stir in bacon, and sweet potato until combined. Chill dough in refrigerator for 45 minutes, or until well chilled and firm.

Roll heaping tablespoons of dough into balls, and place on greased cookie sheets, about an inch apart. Flatten balls slightly using palms of hands. Bake 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.

Makes 30 cookies.