Asian Spice Oatmeal Cookies
I love Chinese Five Spice — it’s the star of my zucchini bread and I use it in both sweet baked goods and savory dishes like my Mushroom Wontons (recipe coming next week).
Chinese Five Spice is a combination that is used in Asian cooking combining cinnamon, anise seed, cloves, ginger and fennel seeds, all ground together. The great thing is that not one of these spices is prominent; they are all equal and it gives a great balance of spice to your dishes.
Every time I come up with a cookie recipe, I seem to throw all my favorite ingredients in so they have tons of complex flavors. This cookie is no different. I took the classic oatmeal raisin cookie and eliminated some of the raisins but added coconut and almonds.
Like most of my recipes, this one is very simple and straightforward, yet it yields an amazingly flavorful end result.
- 2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar (I used light brown sugar)
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons Chinese Five Spice
- large pinch of salt
- 1 ½ cups flour
- ½ cup mixed raisins (I like the variety, but standard raisins will be just fine)
- 2 cups oats
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- 1 cup ground almonds
- Start by toasting the almonds on a baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. Once toasted, place into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until ground but still bits of almonds remain.
- With the paddle attachment on your mixer, beat the butter and sugars, until combined. Next add the eggs one at a time along with the vanilla and mix until incorporated.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and Five Spice. Add it gradually to the sugar mixture until fully incorporated.
- Stir in the remaining ingredients.
- Using a cookie dough scoop, plop out 12 cookies per baking sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Rotate the pans half way through.
- Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and once cooled, store in an airtight container.
