Thursday, March 1, 2012

Cowboy Cookies


One of my favorite cookies to make when I want to fill the cookie jar (and have a few left to give to folks in the neighborhood) are Cowboy Cookies.  I have no idea why they are called Cowboy Cookies but I do know that my favorite Cowgirl loves em!  They are simple, good and are easy to make with stored foods.  I always make a double batch.

Cowboy Cookies

1 C butter, softened (lard or shortening for stored foods)
1 1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C granulated sugar
2 eggs (or 2T egg powder + 6T water)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 C flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 C oatmeal (I use thick cut)
2 C chocolate chips (I use a little less)
1 C flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350°

In a mixing bowl, cream butter (or shortening/lard) and sugars.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat until fluffy.  Combine flour, baking soda and salt.  Beat into creamed mixture.  Stir in oatmeal, chocolate chips and coconut.  Drop by tablespoons onto greased cookie sheets.  Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

When I bake cookies, I use the amount of flour listed in the recipe merely as a guide.  I always start with less flour than is recommended, slowly adding more until the dough is the correct consistency.  The amount of flour that is needed depends on many factors, including the humidity in the air.  With this recipe, I often add more flour than the recipe indicates.  If the dough is sticky, I add flour just until the dough no longer sticks to my hands, but is still soft.  If not enough flour has been added, the cookies will spread all over the cookie sheet and be flat as pancakes.  If too much flour has been added, they retain the shape they were when they were put on the cookie sheet and will be as hard as rocks.  Generally, I roll the cookie dough around in my hand to make round balls before I put them on the baking sheets.  Doing this gives me a good idea as to the condition of the dough.

Creaming the butter and the sugars
Adding the Chocolate Chips
Dough is still too wet
Just the right amount of flour
Ready for the oven
Ready to turn in the cookstove
These cookies, by themselves are very hardy, but when you use wheat flour rather than white flour, they will keep you going all day long!

12 comments:

  1. This is the cookie of my childhood. Yummy!

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  2. We've made something similar for years, but made a batch that is about 2 1/2 times bigger. I always thought they were called cowboy cookies because they were so big. We used an ice cream scoop for size. Either way they are super cookies.

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  3. YUM! Where's the glass of cold milk and we'll sit a spell and chat. (Don't count on any of these cookies still being there on the plate when we're done!!) Thanks for the doomsday relief for awhile! Things can get pretty heavy.
    Pat

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  4. mmm! I will be making these soon. As soon as I can get back into the kitchen! We have been so busy I barely get a meal dished up!

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  5. Enola Gay, Okay....I have put on 5 pounds just looking at your pictures of these cookies in the process of being made. The recipe looks inviting, I must try this one day soon. Thank you for sharing :-)

    Sandy, Oklahomatransient.blogspot.com

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  6. i bet this cookie would be good just with raisins or a few chopped nuts instead of the chocalate and coconut...thank you for using the measurements for the "stored" ingredients!

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  7. Enola Gay,
    Do you find that using the dough hook works better for the cookie dough? About a year ago, I purchased the plastic Cookie Paddles for my Bosch. I have had to have them replaced 3 times so far because the little gears on the top keep splintering. I am missing having cookies in the house because I keep forgetting to order replacement cookie paddles.
    By the way, those cookies look amazing.

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    1. Actually, I miss having cookie paddles, but I kept breaking them and finally figured out that I could do just about the same thing with the wisks and the dough hook. For all of the heavy dough cookies (chocolate chip, cowboy cookies, sugar cookies) I use the dough hook. For soft dough cookies like Madelines, I use the wisks, at least to start, and then switch over to the dough hook. The cookie paddles only seem to work well with cake batter - otherwise I have found them to not hold up at all.
      Enola

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  8. Glad to hear I am not the only one disappointed with the quality. I think I will try using my dough hook. Thanks for the info. I love my Bosch and all the accessories. This is the first item that has broken since my mom and dad bought our first Bosch more than 30 years ago.

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  9. These look really good!! Do you by chance have an easy recipe for a lemon cake?

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  10. This recipe is almost exactly the same as my mother's "October Cookies" recipe except Mom's uses rice krispies and pecans instead of chocolate chips. They are by far my favorite crunchy cookie. Thanks for sharing your favorites!

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  11. They are delicious - we use pecans or walnuts and go a little lighter on the oats, but I've never met a variation I didn't like.

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