Amazingly soft and gooey crinkle cookies with a hint of ube or purple sweet potatoes are HUGE hit in our house. It’s hard to stay away from them.
Amazingly Soft Ube Crinkle Cookies
PURPLE CRINKLE COOKIES
These amazingly soft ube or purple sweet potato crinkle cookies have become one of our family favorites every year. I like the crusty cookies on the outside but the inside is soooo soft, gooey and just melt in your mouth!! It has that hint of purple sweet potato that I love. Even if you don’t think you will like purple sweet potato or ube, you will not mind it in these cookies. For Real!
*Please note that I will mention both Ube or purple sweet potatoes in this post, but they are not the same thing. I tried the recipe with ube and two different types of purple sweet potatoes. The recipe can be made with any of the three*
You can read about the different purple sweet potatoes and ube in this purple sweet potato chiffon cake.
WHAT TO SUBSTITUTE FOR FRESH UBE OR PURPLE SWEET POTATO
If you can’t find fresh ube (I couldn’t), you can get the frozen grated ube and then steam it and mash. Another option is to use ube jam (ube halaya). This is usually has been sweetened, so you may need to cut down on the amount of sugar. I have yet to try it with ube jam.
Frozen Grated Ube
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WHY MY COOKIES TURN GREEN OR OTHER COLORS BUT PURPLE
I started getting comments from some of you who have tried this recipe and let me know that your cookies have turned green, or has green-blue speckles, some even brownish in color. Here’s the reason:
USE THE RIGHT PURPLE SWEET POTATO
I’ve made these crinkle cookies several times with ube, purple sweet potatoes (Stokes purple sweet potatoes), and Okinawan purple sweet potatoes and here’ what I found:
1. Ube dough
-The color of the dough remains very light purple after beating with butter and adding regular baking powder or aluminum-free baking powder. So, you can use either baking powder, that doesn’t cause the color change in this case.
-The color change to light brown after adding an egg. This is probably due to the purple and yellow from the yolk forming that light brown color.
2. Okinawan purple sweet potato dough
-The color of the dough remains purple after beating with butter and adding regular baking powder or aluminum-free baking powder. You can use either baking powder, that doesn’t cause the color change in this case.
-The color of the dough change to light brown to after adding an egg.
3. Purple sweet potato dough
The dough simply doesn’t change color even after adding an egg or after baking. This is the purple sweet potato I highly recommend to use in baking. They turn slightly darker after baking, but purple color is still vibrant. In the U.S. here known as Stokes purple sweet potatoes.
Stokes Purple Sweet Potatoes. They have brownish purple skin. I recommend using these.
IF YOU USE UBE OR OKINAWAN PURPLE SWEET POTATO
If you use ube or Okinawan purple sweet potato for this recipe, you will need to add food coloring or ube extract. With ube, which the color of the purple is s much more subtle and weaker IMO, it’s hard for the natural color to shine through. SOOOO, I added food coloring for a consistent result. I know it’s not an ideal solution, considering some people, including myself, trying to stay away from artificial coloring as much I can, but if you want to consistently get nice purple color cookies, food coloring will come in handy. There are too many variables or unknown to me and I wish I’m a chemist to be able to tell you what could have gone wrong or didn’t happen!
I’ve read other recipes and wondering how they can get the color to be consistent and all of the recipes that I’ve seen, calls for use of ube extract, which will deepen the purple color of the cookies. I don’t have ube extract, and so I use mixture of blue and red to make the purple color.
Food colorings are added to ube dough (left) and Okinawan purple sweet potato dough (right)
IF YOU USE STOKES PURPLE SWEET POTATO (WITH BROWNISH PURPLE SKIN)
You don’t need additional food coloring. The natural coloring is deep enough and your cookies will not change color. They may turn slightly darker after baked, but the inside will have nice purple color.
The cookies have that light taste of ube or purple sweet potatoes in it, which is really nice! Kids really are digging these cookies. I have to actually hide these cookies away from them LOL!
Now let’s go straight to how to make these purple crinkle cookies, shall we?
HOW TO MAKE SOFT AND GOOEY CRINKLE COOKIES
1. Mix the dry and wet ingredients separately
This will make sure things get mixed evenly and no funny taste on some spots and we prevent overmixing of the flour too
2. Chill the dough
The cookie dough is very sticky and need to be chilled for at least 4 hours or overnight is fine too. The dough may change color slightly to greenish or brownish (I notice this if I use purple sweet potato, but not on ube), this is normal. The inside of the dough is still purple
3. Let the cookie dough soften
Let the dough out at room temperature for about 15 minutes and it will soften and you can start scooping and shape the dough
4. Shaping
If the dough is getting to soft or wet after you are done shaping them into balls, put the tray back into the freezer for about 15 minutes. Don’t dip them in the powdered sugar yet. The refrigeration will prevent the cookie dough from spreading too much while baking. Then coat them in powdered sugar and bake immediately
5. Bake at low temperature
The recipe calls for baking at 325F. This will yield very soft cookies. Don’t be shocked by how soft they are when just out from the oven. Let them cool down for 1 minute and then transfer to cooling rack to let them cool down completely
THE BEST WAY TO STORE COOKIES
1. STORE FRESHLY BAKED COOKIES: Let them cool down completely.Store them in an air-tight container (make sure it’s really air-tight) or zipper lock bag with a piece of bread, no more than half size of the bread, at room temperature for 3-4 days. This will help to keep the cookies fresh longer.
For longer storage, I would suggest placing them in a freezer bag and freeze them. They can be kept up to 6 months. They can be re-crisped in the oven at 425 F for 4-5 minutes.
2. FREEZE COOKIE DOUGH: You can either roll the dough up into logs or I just roll them into little balls. I place the balls on a baking sheet and then place in the freezer for 30 minutes or so. They will firm up and then I transfer to freezer bag to save space. They can be thawed in the refrigerator overnight, then dip in confectioner sugar and then baked according to recipe.
These crinkle cookies are made with purple sweet potato (with brownish purple skin).
These crinkle cookies are made with ube.
UPDATES:
*I decided to update this post based on inputs from people who have tried this recipe but does not get purple color cookies. This recipe has been tested with ube (purple yam), Okinawan purple sweet potatoes, and regular purple sweet potatoes (Stokes purple sweet potatoes)*
Amazingly Soft Ube or Purple Sweet Potato Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 280 grams all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp salt
Wet ingredients:
- 200 grams mashed purple sweet potato or ube or ube jam (ube halaya) See notes
- 1 stick butter (about 113 grams) unsalted, softened
- 200 grams granulated sugar
- 2 tsp ube extract if not using food coloring, not needed for Stokes purple sweet potatoes
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
Other ingredients:
- 120 grams confectioners’ sugar for rolling & dusting cookies
Food coloring (if not using ube extract and not needed if using Stokes purple sweet potatoes):
- Start with 4 drops blue food color
- Start with 6 drops of red food color
Recommended equipments:
Instructions
Prepare ube or purple sweet potatoes:
- If using fresh ube, Okinawan purple sweet potatoes, or Stokes purple sweet potatoes, peel the skin and then cut into large chunks and steam for about 15 minutes or until easily mash with fork. You can also microwave on high for 8-10 minutes or until soft.
- If using frozen grated ube, thaw and then steam for about 10-15 minutes or until easily mashable
- Get about 200 grams of purple sweet potatoes or ube to make cookies, you can eat the rest 🙂
Prepare cookie dough:
- Place the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk to mix. Place mashed potatoes or ube and butter in a stand mixer bowl and fix the paddle attachment to the mixer to cream them until smooth and creamy. Add sugar, vanilla extract, and mix until combined. I need to scrap the side of the mixing bowl halfway to make sure it gets everything. Add in eggs and continue to mix for another 2 minutes on speed
- Turn the speed to low and gradually add in the flour mixture and let it mix until combine. Add food coloring or ube extract (if using) and continue to mix until the color is even and you are happy with the purple color.
Chill the dough:
- If you use ube or Okinawan sweet potatoes, the dough is very sticky at this point. Stokes purple sweet potatoes don't have as much moisture and the dough is actually not as sticky. I could actually skip chilling the dough with it. Otherwise, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour. I let it refrigerate overnight. Don't be alarm if the dough changes color to darker green or brownish on the outside after refrigeration, the inside is still purple
- Let the cookie dough out on the counter for about 15 minutes to let it soften a bit. Mix the dough a bit and the Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line the cookie sheet with parchment paper
Shape the cookies:
- Scoop about 1 Tbsp of the cookie dough out. Roll it into a ball and place them on lined cookie sheet. If you feel that the dough is getting too sticky and wet by the time you are done shaping them, pop the whole tray in the freezer for 15 minutes. This will prevent the cookies from spreading out too much when you bake them. Only get the tray out when you are ready to bake them. Then generously roll them in confectioners' sugar. Roll them several times to make sure each ball is well-coated
Baking:
- Pop them into the oven. I bake them one tray at a time because my oven is just weird. You'll know your oven better. Let it bake for 14 minutes (my oven took about 16 minutes). They appear to be still very soft when you pull them out from the oven, but they will toughen up a bit as they cool down. The inside is still so soft and gooey
35 comments
can i use purple sweet potato ? i am not sure if it is same as ube. thank you
sorry just learnt ube is sweet potato
Hi Brinacyl, Yes Ube is a purple sweet potato, so you can definitely use regular sweet potato too 🙂
Hi! I’m currently making your recipe, and in step 2, you mention vanilla extract, but I don’t see this on the ingredients list. Do you mean baking powder?
Hi Tiffany,
I forgot the vanilla extract in the ingredient list 🙂 There should be 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract. I’ve added that to the instruction. I’m glad you brought this up. The baking powder is mixed with the flour and salt first. Hope this helps and please let me know if anything is unclear. Hope you like the cookies.
can i use ube jam instead?
Hi Eza,
I can’t tell you for sure because I’ve never tried it, but I don’t see why you can’t. You may need to adjust the amount of sugar depending on how sweet the ube jam you are going to use, if it is sweetened.
Hi! I made this recipe 2x but the cookies tasted like a soft bread and didn’t really crack.
Hi Phoebe,
Hmm..I really wish I could tell you what could have gone wrong. I’ve always used this recipe for my crinkle cookies and they always turn out fine for me. The cookies suppose to be soft and gooey. Did you follow the recipe exactly?
I tried making this with frozen ube that I purchased from the Filipino grocery & it didn’t turn out as expected. I guess the frozen ube became more watery & made the dough have a sticky wet consistency. Even after refrigerating it overnight, the dough wasn’t as firm as I wanted it to be.
This recipe is pretty straightforward and easy to follow, just wish the measurements were in cups not grams… hee, hee 🙂
The flavor was there but the cookies were not exactly presentable… they were definitely on the flat side. So, lesson learned DO NOT use FROZEN ube.
Hi Criselda,
Thank you so much for your input. Yes, I would imagine the frozen ube after thawing would have more water. I will update the recipe to include “not to use frozen ube”. It’s funny that I used to have my measurements in cups until past few years that I found using grams or ounce for baking gives me better result ha..ha..! But I hear you though, it can be a pain if you are not used to it 🙂 I’ll look into having both measurements. Thanks again for your input
Hi, how do you store your cookies? Refrigerate or leave out?
Hi Michelle,
Once the cookies are completely cool down after baking, you can store them in an air-tight container or zipper lock bag and store at room temperature for 3-4 days. I remember grandma likes to put a small piece of bread (no more than half of a slice) in there too. She said it helped to keep the cookies “fresher” . For longer storage, I would suggest freezing them and then you can refresh them in the oven at 425F 4-5 minutes. Hope this helps. Sorry I forgot to include this part. I will add these tips in. Thank you.
My cookies came out great except they were completely green in color. They tasted good and even had the white sugar on the outside! (And yes, I used purple ube and followed the recipe). I’m trying to figure out why they turned green. Do you add the egg yolk?
Hmm…that is very odd! I’m not sure what to tell you Carrie. Not sure why it could turn out green. My guess it probably caused by the baking powder? Sometimes I heard it can turn food to a different color. I’ve heard people using aluminum-free baking powder for that reason.
And yes I did use the whole egg (both white and the yolk)
These turned out great for me!
Although, I used packaged mashed purple sweet potato and also ended up with some green-blue speckles in the dough after refrigerating overnight. Didn’t affect the taste at all though!
Hi Amanda,
Thank you for trying the cookies out! I’m glad you like them! Now, you are the second one to tell me about this green-blue speckles in the dough. I believe it may have something to do with the baking powder. I didn’t have any on mine, but I have to experiment again. Thanks again for letting me know.
i tried the recipe twice…..with aluminum free baking powder both times, and i am not getting purple cookies…..greenish/brown both times with hints of purplish specks. the yam was really dry, though the butter yam mixture was purple until i added the egg. what am i doing wrong? is the yam not cooked enough?
Hi Joy,
I wish I can give you the answer to why the mixture changes color once the eggs are added 🙁 I’ve been reading a lot about it, but finding no answer either. Did you use grated yam and then steam them and mash?
Your instructions say to include light brown sugar, but that is not included in your ingredients list. Can you please advise?
Hi Alexis, I’ve updated the recipe few weeks ago not to use light brown sugar. I must have forgotten to take that out from the instruction. It’s only regular white sugar.
It’s 10 times easier to use the ube flavoring and very colorful too I am making them right now with a sugar cookie recipe and it added 🙂
Absolutely! I wish I can get ube flavoring here to try out 🙂
Hi! The recipe looks great and can’t wait to try it! Thank you for sharing! 🙂
About the purple sweet potato having greenish blue spots, I think it’s caused by the egg white, not baking powder.
I recreated an eatery’s steamed egg over mashed potato dish. In a small mason jar, I put in the mashed organic Stokes purple sweet potato and then put raw organic egg on top and steamed the whole thing. Some areas where the egg white touched the potato turned greenish.
Also, I notice the water when boiling the potatoes turn greenish when using tap water. The water turns purple when using alkaline water.
Hope this info helps!
Best regards,
Michelle
@knoshcrush.healthylifestyler
Hi Michelle, yes, I noticed that even with regular baking powder or aluminum-free baking powder, it doesn’t make any difference. The acidity and alkalinity sure affect the colors here. Great info!
Hello! Thanks for the recipe. This will be the first time I’ll be making these cookies. I bought the frozen grated ube. Should I just thaw before using?
Hi Hanna, yes, thaw it and then steam for 10-15 minutes until you can easily mash it. Sorry, I miss the “thaw” part in the instruction. I’ve edited the recipe.
I followed the recipe exactly, using purple sweet potatoes. The color is great, but the cookies did not spread at all, barely cracked, and are more cake like. I got exactly 30 cookies so they were portioned correctly. I am wondering, the ingredient list says 1 large egg, but the instructions says eggs and other comments mention eggs. Is there supposed to be another egg?
This recipe did not turn out for me. The color was great, as I used purple sweet potatoes, but the cookies did not spread, are more cake like, and are not very sweet. My dough was not as sticky/wet as you described. I weighed all my ingredients and the recipe made 30 small cookies so it made the correct amount of dough.
Hi Becky, my apology, there should be another egg yolk added (1 large egg + 1 egg yolk). Somehow when I updated the recipe the egg yolk was left out! The dough should be sticky. If it’s not after adding another egg yolk, it could be that the sweet potato may not have much moisture and you may need to add another yolk.
Hi can I add 1 tsp baking soda to the recipe? You think it will taste good ifI add cream cheese? It would be Ube Cream Cheese Crinkles. Thank you!
Hi Eileen, the recipe has baking powder in it. I won’t recommend adding baking soda because I’m afraid it might leave that “metallic” taste in the cookies since there’s no “acid” in the cookie recipe to neutralize the baking soda. As for cream cheese, I think it will taste great with it. This ube crinkles recipe is adapted from this red velvet cream cheese cookies https://whattocooktoday.com/soft-gooey-red-velvet-crinkle-cookies.html So, I can tell you that ube cream cheese crinkles most likely will be awesome 🙂
I used frozen ube, made into jam by cooking in a wok with evaporated milk condensed sweetened milk, and fresh alternative milk. Definitely worth the added time to make the jam for the cookies. I also added the ube extract so my purple color is extremely vibrant. I found store bought ube jam in Sacramento, but in Fresno, nobody had the jam but both local Asian/Filipino markets carry the Butterfly brand ube extract vials.
We have a home bakery that goes to the local farmers markets that has ube brownies that are so delicious, that is what got me interested in making ube baked goods. Your recipe gave the best flavor match to his bakery ones.
The amount of ube jam is the same as the grated ube. I only reduced the white sugar a 1/4 cup. In making the ube jam, I added 1 can evap milk and 1 can sweetened condensed milk plus 1 cup coconut or almond milk (the alternative milk selection has inproved with so many people not drinking cows milk.) and 3 lbs of frozen cooked and grated ube.
Hi Libby,
Thank you so much for sharing your ube jam recipe. I will definitely give it a try next round 😉 So glad to hear that you like the ube cookies recipe! It’s about time I make these cookies again.