Mmm, home-baked oatmeal cookies. Who doesn’t love that? But I didn’t have raisins and you can’t have oatmeal cookies without something chewy right? And if you’re already changing up the recipe, why not make it a little different and change the spices in this classic cookie too. Chinese 5 Spice? Really? Yes, I was a little nervous to use a wildly different spice in my cookies – but it worked! Here are some super-yummy vegan and gluten-free Chinese 5 Spice Oatmeal Cherry Cookies.

As you know I am a nervous cooker and baker. In normal life I don’t like to try new things. Like ever. But writing a food blog, change is good. Creating cool new recipes is exciting. Especially when you are recreating classics like the oatmeal raisin cookie. I initially was just going to make an oatmeal cherry cookie with my oh-so-favorite dried fruit. I love going to Whole Foods and buying the dried cherries – especially since they aren’t sold in any stores. But dried cherries are freakishly expensive so I don’t ever go overboard on buying them. I buy them then put them in the freezer and usually only take small handfuls out to snack on, which is good because they are super-sweet. This time I wanted to add them to a cookie. And oatmeal cookies love dried fruit! I was also trying to think of a way to make these cookies even better, and I thought about my jar of Chinese 5 spice that has been sitting around and not being used. So. Cookies it was. But I was so nervous, because I don’t think of that spice being anything but savory, and I didn’t want my poor cherries being sacrificed to a baking fail and end up being tossed in the trash. But lo and behold – yum! The spice ended up being perfect! The cookies, even with the extra teaspoon of cinnamon I added, ended up tasting like licorice! People – you have to try it!

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I didn’t have oat flour so I ground my own in my handy-dandy small food processor. In a large bowl add the flour, oats, baking soda and powder, cinnamon, and 5 spice then mix really well. In a smaller bowl dump banana and vanilla and mash. My banana didn’t mash well so I microwaved it for 30 seconds then mashed, then microwaved 30 more seconds. Once warmed the banana was perfectly mashable. Mix The Vegg with almond milk in a small container then add Vegg, vanilla, and Splenda to bananas and mix well. Dump into oats and mix then add cherries and mix again. The batter will be pretty loose so I scooped up a small portion with the spoon then pressed the batter into the bowl of the spoon then pushed it onto the baking sheet. Normally I just dump the batter on the sheet not caring if the cookie is just a lump or how it looks, but I was trying for a flat cookie this time. And it worked. These flat licorice tasting cookies turned out awesome!

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Chinese 5 Spice Oatmeal Cherry Cookies, 34 small cookies

1 1/2 C Oats
3/4 C Oat Flour
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
2 Tsp Baking Powder
2 Tsp Chinese 5 Spice
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1 Banana, mashed
1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
1 The Vegg Baking Mix
1/4 C So Delicious Protein Plus Vanilla Almond Milk
1 C Splenda
1 C Dried Cherries

1. Set oven to 350 degrees and spray two baking sheets with non-stick spray.
2. Process oats in a small food processor until flour.
3. In a large mixing bowl add flour, oats, baking soda and powder, cinnamon, and 5 spice and mix.
4. In a small bowl mash banana with vanilla. Mix Vegg with almond milk and add to bowl along with Splenda. Mix then dump in large bowl.
5. Mix ingredients then add cherries and mix again.
6. Take a small amount of batter onto a spoon then press flat on spoon then scoot onto baking sheet. Continue until all batter is portioned into cookies.
7. Bake 10 minutes.
8. Enjoy!