Purple Sweet Potato Bunny Cookies

A smile appeared upon her face as if she'd taken it directly from her handbag and pinned it there. 

 ~Loma Chandler

I was torn between doing a French Fridays with Dorie post and one about these purple bunnies, and was still undecided at 3pm today, already a Friday. Then quite suddenly, I stumbled upon an article over at Tiny Buddha entitled "51 Things That Will Make You Smile".  As I went through the list of things that will supposedly put a smile on your face, I paused (naturally) at No. 18, which suggested that you "Bake something that has a silly face on it". Alas Dorie lost this week, these bunnies won.

Now you all know my love for purple sweet potatoes....and it's been a while since I've made up a recipe using this wonderfully-hued ingredient. It wasn't my original intention to make cookies today but while I was rummaging through my baking cabinet, a pair of really cute cookie cutters fell out. They were Miffy bunny cutters I had bought a while back and just forgot about. Yes, I know....other people buy dresses, stash them in their wardrobe with their price tags still on and proceed to forget all about them. I do the same, not with dresses but purchasing too many baking tools and accessories that I don't often use.

I posted pictures of these purple cookies on Instagram and several people immediately asked for the recipe. Who am I to disappoint? Especially during the Easter weekend when bunnies somehow become more relevant and show up just about everywhere. By that, I mean edible bunnies, mostly in the form of chocolate. None are purple in color, I suspect, until these came along :).

Now have a good look at these bunnies and tell me, do they not make you smile? 

It's been a while since I posted a TED Talks video but here's a magical one that tells a beautiful story using augmented reality technology. It's thoroughly entertaining but I also think what he's saying applies to bloggers as well as magicians. If you're as fascinated by it as I was, I'm pretty sure you'll be smiling by the end of it :).

Have a lovely Easter!


Purple Sweet Potato Bunny Cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg powder
5 oz butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup cooked (steamed or boiled) and mashed purple sweet potato

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Whisk the flour, salt and nutmeg together in a bowl.

2. In another bowl, whisk the butter and sugar on medium speed until creamy. Add the vanilla extract and cooled, mashed purple sweet potato. Mix until smooth.

3. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour in two additions. You can adjust the consistency of the dough with extra flour  if necessary. The dough needs to clump together and pull away from the sides of the bowl, but not be sticky (something like a pie crust consistency).

4. Scrape the dough onto a flour surface and roll flat to about 1cm (1/2 inch) thickness. Cut out desired shapes using cookies cutters, and place shapes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone mat.

5. Bake cookies for 15 minutes, but be careful they don't turn brown. Remove tray from the oven and cool the cookies on racks for at least 10-15 minutes before eating. They will firm up upon cooling and are best consumed on the day of baking.