by Karen Soo, Newsletter Editor

If you’re a fan of chocolate, nuts, and coconut, go ahead and add cowboy cookies to your list of favorite desserts. This cookie is a riff on the classic chocolate chip cookie with hearty mix-ins, which means they’re moist, chewy, and loaded with gooey chocolate.

Saddle up and bring them to your next bake sale, bake ’em for a special after-school snack for the kids, or add them to your Christmas cookie plate. These loaded cookies are seriously irresistible!

Why are they called cowboy cookies?

These cookies were made famous by former First Lady Laura Bush, who submitted them for a baking contest during the 2000 presidential election. Her Texas-sized, cowboy cookies beat out her competitor Tipper Gore’s ginger snap recipe, and they began their road to fame from there!

What ingredients are in cowboy cookies? Cowboy cookies start with the base of a chocolate chip cookie; from there, you add bonus ingredients like oats, pecans, coconut, and M&M’s.

Enjoy!

Bon Appetite – Julia Child and Karen Soo share the same birthday.

Makes 11 dozen small cookies or 5 dozen large cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose sifted flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 cup shortening
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups old-fashioned oats
  • 2 cups chocolate chips

For variations use:

Chopped walnuts, coconut flakes, and 6 oz of chocolate chip

Or

Plain M&M’s candies to garnish top of cookies red and green for Christmas or pastels for Spring/ Easter

Directions

  1. Sift together flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder: set aside
  2. Blend together shortening and sugars: cream well
  3. Add eggs and vanilla
  4. Beat until light and fluffy
  5. Add flour mixture and mix well
  6. Add oats and chocolate chips. Dough will be crumbly.
  7. Roll dough into size of a walnut, flatten on greased cookie sheet and bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees
  8. Press M&M’s into the flattened dough, if decorating with M&M candies.