Post-vacation life is hard. Cowboy Cookies are the answer.
I got home on Tuesday night and I’ve had a time getting back into what I’m supposed to do in non-vacation life. As much as I long for the comforts of home after so many days, the reality of the airport and walking through the door back to normalcy is a little bit crushing. But, on the upside, so is the weight of Crawley on my chest at each night, and that, I surely do miss when I’m not here.
I’ve decided, however, that there is no better way to ease back into the swing of real life than with fresh cookies. And this recipe, these Cowboy Cookies, I’m bringing back from way deep in my three-ring binder, handwritten archives.
I have become so used to using Smitten Kitchen’s Salted Chocolate Chunk Cookies as my go-to, that I had completely forgotten my original go-to, until my good friend Vert happened to remind me of my past good sense, and so here we have cowboy cookies rising again.
I confess that this isn’t my recipe. I found it, probably around 9 or so years ago while paging through the Chicago Tribune one Sunday morning. There, published, was Laura Bush’s recipe, a kitchen sink varietal of chocolate chip, with oats, cinnamon, coconut, nuts – versatile enough to supplement with all sorts of other good things (peanut butter and butterscotch chips come to mind) – and a fan favorite each and every time I made them.
The original recipe makes a LOT of cookies, and I rarely find myself in need of so many. Therefore, I’v adjusted the recipe into more reasonable proportions, keeping its essence and deliciousness in tact.
Check out that essence.
Despite the adjusted recipe, these remain the big kind of cookies. The kind that end up being a plate size rather than bite size. However, I suppose that’s the cowboy way, and I’m pretty okay with that.
Cowboy Cookies
Laura Bush's oatmeal cookies with chocolate chunks, pecans, coconut and cinnamon make these Cowboy cookie recipe the best!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cups light-brown sugar, packed
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 TB vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 TB baking powder
- 1/2 TB baking soda
- 1/2 TB ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chunks
- 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
- 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Step 2 In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, at least five minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well in between each addition. Add the vanilla. Mix well.
- Step 3 Slowly add the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder and mix until just combined, careful not to over mix. Add the oats, coconut, nuts and chocolate and stir until all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
- Step 4 For each cookie, drop 1/4 cup dough onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart. Bake 17-20 minutes until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let sit on the rack for 2 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.
