Dark Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies
As soon as I hit publish on the last post, a monsoon came rolling in and stayed all night long. The hills almost instantly changed from yellow to green, making everything feel more lush and alive. And then there was the most beautiful rainbow on my drive to work this morning. You could see the entire length of it extending from one green hill to the other. It was perfect; such a nice way to start the day.
Almost as good as starting it with a soft and chewy oatmeal cookie…
You like that transition there, don’t ya?
I know I’m posting two chocolate recipes in a row but I couldn’t keep these to myself any longer. Just to give you some perspective, the recipe makes 33 cookies and they were all gone within one week. I could not stop eating them!
Bits of dried cherries and gooey chocolate chips are simply irresistible tucked inside of a thick, chewy oatmeal cookie.
What’s even better is that they’re made wholesome ingredients like oat flour, rolled oats, dried cherries, and maple syrup. Sounds like breakfast, right?
They certainly could be if you wanted them to but I found myself consuming them at all times of the day. I didn’t feel the least bit guilty about it either.
I actually froze most of them to save for later but then I kept defrosting four or five every other day to have more to eat. Looking back, it was kind of pointless for me to freeze them but just so you know, they do freeze well. You just have to defrost them for a little while so that you can flatten them.
I already have plans to make another batch this weekend but I’m going to try and make them last just a little longer this time. That’s my goal at least. We’ll see how it goes.
Happy weekend!
Ingredients
2 and 1/2 cups oat flour*
1 and 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup maple syrup (or 1/3 honey if not vegan)
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup melted vegan butter
3/4 cup unsweetened dried cherries
3/4 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F then place the ingredients (oat flour to salt) in a large bowl, sift to combine and then set aside.
- Place wet ingredients (maple syrup to butter) in a medium size bowl and mix together.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet then fold in the chocolate chips and cherries. Continue to stir with a spoon until a uniform dough has formed.
- Refrigerate dough for about 30 minutes, until it has firmed some, then roll it into large tablespoon sized balls and set on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. If you like a thicker cookie, you can refrigerate them for several hours or freeze them before baking.
- If the cookies are firm and cool from refrigerating/freezing (defrost for a while if frozen), use a cup or other flat surface to press down on the cookie so that it flattens. Otherwise, if it is still soft, you can use your hand to gently flatten it. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until light golden brown. Allow to cool for at least ten minutes before serving.
Notes
*Be sure to use certified gluten-free ingredients for gluten allergies
Prep time doesn't include time to chill dough
Hi Sarah can you substitute all purpose gluten free flour for the oat flour in this recipe? Alternatively can you make oat flour out of rolled oats?
Hi Amanda, yes you could sub GF flour. I think it word work just fine. I also think you could make your own oat flour but you would have to process the oats finely to achieve a similar texture. Hope that helps!
Pictures are so sharp here that it feels like I can grab a cookie from the screen. Who knows, maybe in the future we could also share food through our computers :) Have nice weekend and happy baking time!
I always forget about the chocolate and cherry combo, but it’s so good! And of course, you can never go wrong with cookies ;-)
YAY FOR RAIN. The news anchors were talking about it this morning so I’m all clued in (I’m usually out of it). And no shame for eating all the cookies, especially when they’re GF, vegan and refined sugar-free!!
I actually hate putting so many labels on my recipes but I know a lot of readers follow specific diets so I figure it helps to point it out for that reason. But it does make it easier to eat as many as I want!! :)
Ohhhh these things look addicting! I love the cherry and chocolate combination – such a match made in heaven! This weekend, my girl friends and I are going wine tasting in Murphys (have you been? You and hubs should go!!), so I’ll have to whip up a batch of these for road trip snacks!
I haven’t been to Murphys and I had to Google it just to figure out where it was! I’ll put it on the list of places to check out, thanks!
I hope you girls have a blast!!
I would totally have one of these with breakfast. These look so good! I haven’t made cookies in a while, but I feel like I should spend some time baking this weekend.
Oh my goodness, Sarah! These look amazing as usual! If I were home, I’d totally make them right now!
I can see why you ate them in one week, they look delicious…gooey chocolate chips are irresistible!!
Mhmm all of my favorite things wrapped up into one cookie! Yum!
These look and sounds absolutely wonderful. Beautiful photos as always :)
I could so go for one of these right now! I need a little post-lunch pick me up!
Happy weekend!
Oh these sound so good! I have a big bag of dried cherries that would be great in these cherry chocolate cookies. Thanks for sharing the recipe, enjoy your warm weather and green grass!
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These look delicious! I’m always on the hunt for delicous whole food cookies. Just one question. Do you think I could sub coconut oil for the EB/butter? If so, the same amount? Thanks!
Hi Adelaide! I think you could use the same amount of melted coconut oil in place of the Earth Balance. Let me know how they turn out if you do!
These look amazing! Pinned!
they look great!
Cookies for breakfast? Can you sign me up? These look supr delish and nourishing, just the way I like my food.
Hope you’re having a nice weekend! xx
These look amazing! I love the fact they’re sugar free! Definitely a recipe to make :)
I just made these cookies and already at like…half of them?? So good! I put them on my blog — superfoodielife.blogspot.com
They may not be as beautiful as yours but they sure tasted great! T
I’m so happy you liked them Natalie! Thanks for sharing. :)
These look divine! I finally created my own gluten-free, vegan cookie recipe — can’t wait to try this one.
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These cookies sound amazing! I adore dried cherries, especially with chocolate. Bookmarking the recipe now to make soon!
Also, I have been obsessed with the hills changing colors as it rains more these last few weeks. You’re right, they really did get much greener after last week’s rain. I’m loving it!
Just made the cookies~delicious!!!!! I also chopped up some walnuts, roasted them and threw them in soooo yummy!!!!
Is it bad that I probably WOULD eat this for breakfast?!?! They just look SO good. I need me some dried cherries pronto!
These are so delicious! They came out perfectly – although I’m just wondering about nutritional info, I’m trying to track my calories!
Hi Tatiana! I’m so glad you enjoyed them as much as I did! I entered in the ingredients that I used into My Fitness Pal and they came out to 104 calories per cookie with 8 grams of sugar. I hope that helps!
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I just pulled these out of the oven to bring to an event tonight, and I basically just ate them for lunch. They look just like the pic, except I did use real butter to try to get a bit more browning on top. Also substituted right between 1/3 and 1/2 cup agave for either of the sweetener options, and the taste is right on. This one’s a keeper!
That makes me so happy to hear, Tessa! Thank you for letting me know. :)
AH-MAZING! I am a total cookie lover! this recipe is so healthy I am totally trying this next time I make cookies! YUM-O
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I just made these and I actually didn’t think I liked them very much at first because they’re a bit dry. But then I couldn’t stop eating them. I had to take them over to my sister’s house to share them because I would’ve literally eaten the whole batch. It doesn’t help that they have such good ingredients in em…
Haha! I guess they are unassumingly dangerous. :)
I’ve made these cookies twice now and they are delicious. Both times I omitted the cherries and went for an orange/chocolate flavor. I added in 1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest into the wet ingredients bowl and mixed well. Just that amount of zest added a good orange flavor to the batter. Also, I just used 1 teaspoon vanilla, not 2, and 1 cup total of chocolate chips. I made my cookies slightly smaller, 2″ across and the recipe made 40 cookies this way. :)