Vegan Sweet Potato Gnocchi

1 Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Wash your sweet potatoes and prick them all over with a fork. Then put them right on the oven rack and bake for about 1 hour or until they are completely soft. 
2 Remove from the oven and let them cool completely. You can put them in the fridge to speed up the process. 
3 While the sweet potatoes are cooling, make the coconut bacon if you are making it. Reduce the oven to 325 degrees. 
4 Add the coconut flakes to a bowl, then top with the soy sauce, liquid smoke, maple syrup and sriracha. Toss to coat all of the coconut. Spread the coconut out in a single layer on a baking sheet sprayed with non stick spray. Bake at 325 degrees for 5 minutes, flip and stir the coconut and then bake for another 5 minutes. 
5 Make sure to keep your eye on the coconut at the end, it will burn easily. It is done when it is nice and brown. Set aside to cool. It will get crispy. 
6 When the sweet potatoes are cool, peel the skin off all of them, then you are going to mash them. I like to use a ricer so there are no lumps. If you don't have one though, you can whip them with a hand mixer, or just mash them really well with a hand masher or fork. 
7 Add the mashed sweet potatoes, the salt and cinnamon to a bowl, then start adding the flour a little at a time, stir the flour into the sweet potatoes after each addition. Once it gets too hard to stir you can begin to knead with your hands. 
8 Knead the dough for a minute until it becomes smooth and not sticky. Form it into a ball and then place the ball onto a floured surface. 
9 Begin to bring water to boil in a large pot. 
10 Now, cut the dough into 4 smaller sections. Taking one section, set the others aside. Sprinkle with a little more flour. Knead for another minute, adding as much flour as you need to make sure it isn't sticky. 
11 Then form into a log, then roll with your hands until it is a long snake that is about the diameter of your thumb. Then cut into 1 inch nuggets. Make sure to keep the gnocchi separate so they don't stick together.  
12 Repeat with each section of the dough ball. Then once the water is boiling, add the gnocchi into the water in batches so you don't over crowd the pot. Boil for about 2-3 minutes, they will float to the top when they are done. 
13 Scoop out the gnocchi when they are done and place in a colander. Then add more gnocchi, repeating until they are all cooked. 
14 Next, in a large non stick skillet, heat the vegan butter on medium high. Once it has melted, add the herbs. Then add the gnocchi to the skillet and saute in the vegan butter for a few minutes to brown them a bit. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. 
15 Serve immediately topped with coconut bacon.