Sweet Potato Sensations Continues To Increase Their Sweet Potato Recipes, Expanding Into Savory Dishes

Southfield (CW50) - What started out as Mrs. T's Sweet Potato Cookies in 1987, the rebranded Sweet Potato Sensations has become a nationally recognized bakery with dozens of sweet potato inspired desserts. Not only do they continue to expand their sweet tooth menu, but they now provide a savory sweet potato menu as well.

To really know how this story about sweet potato cookies began, we take a trip down memory lane back to 1976, when Cassandra Thomas and her husband Jeffery were prepping for Thanksgiving. Jeffery wanted to have sweet potatoes added to the meal, just like his mother used to make. Cassandra didn't like candied yams, as the combination of sweet and savory was not desirable. So, she said she'd make sweet potato cookies to satisfy his sweet tooth and the cookies became an instant hit at Thanksgiving dinner.

In 1987, the Thomases began to realize that there were a few cookie companies they'd see in malls that were finding success selling cookies, but none of them had a sweet potato cookie on the menu. The idea came to mind to start selling their unique cookie to neighbors during an annual yard sale. Within three hours, all of Cassandra's cookies had sold out and the couple began the process of propelling their unique recipe into a company. By 1993, Sweet Potato Sensations opened its first storefront.

Over the years, Sweet Potato Sensations has added dozens of sweet potato desserts to their menu. Some traditional, such as sweet potato pie, other non-traditional ones like sweet potato ice cream. In 2014, the once dessert focused bakery began to offer savory dishes on the menu, including sweet potato grits and waffles.

Cassandra Thomas and her daughter, Espy Thomas, join Lisa Germani on Community Connect to talk about the story behind Sweet Potato Sensations and why it was important to pass the business down to the next generation.

To read more about their story or try their desserts for yourself, go to SweetPotatoSensations.com

Watch COMMUNITY CONNECT, Saturday at 7am on CW50