Zimbabwean sweet potato cookies
Learn how to make these delicious sweet potato cookies - a recipe straight from Zimbabwe!
This recipe is a version of the mbatata cookie: a traditional treat made of sweet potatoes in Zimbabwe. Using this staple in baking produces a soft, cake-like cookie.

Zimbabwean sweet potato cookies.
Ingredients
For the cookies
- 150g butter
- 50g sugar (fairtrade)
- Zest of one lemon (organic)
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 4 tablespoons of honey
- 1 egg
- 250g grated raw sweet potato (roughly two medium potatoes)
- 400g self-raising flour
- 1 ½ tsps baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- Pinch of salt
For the lemon glaze
- 5g butter
- 1 – 2 tsps lemon juice
- 200g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp water
Method
- Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl. Blend in the lemon zest, nutmeg, honey and egg. Fold in the sweet potato.
- In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add it to the first mixture and blend well.
- Arrange the cookie dough by rounded tablespoons on an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake at 175 degrees for 7 minutes.
- To make the glaze, use a wooden spoon to combine all the ingredients in a glass container until smooth.
- Add more water by the drop until the glaze is easy to spread on the cooled cookies.