Why are these cookies called Cowboy Cookies? I don’t know. It’s a great question. Can they be made on a camp-fire? No. Are they full of cowpokey ingredients? Not really. Their name is kind of a mystery but what’s not a mystery is how delicious they are.
If you’re familiar with Calgary, Alberta — the place Collin Murray and I hang our hats, you will know that this week is the Calgary Stampede. Sigh: I’m not a fan. The Stampede is all about rodeo, beer, mini doughnuts, over-priced rides, and hideous cowboy/girl fashions. I’m not bitter, I’m just not into Stampeding. That being said, I never turn away from the opportunity to make a festive dessert and this week, you couldn’t get more festive in my hometown then by making a Cowboy Cookie.
This recipe really isn’t too different from most recipes out there for chocolate chip cookies but with the addition of oats and pecans, these cookies really shine. They are dense and full of flavor but with the baking time that I’ve suggested, they are also soft and chewy. The perfect cookie if I do say so myself.
Cowboy Cookies (adapted from La Pinata – Junior Service League of McAllen, Texas)
Makes about 3 dozen
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 cups oats, not quick cooking
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup pecans, chopped
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine sugars and softened butter and cream together, about 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; add vanilla.
In a large bowl, whisk to combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture. Turn up the speed to medium and beat the batter until well combined. Add the oats, chocolate chips and pecans, beating for 30 seconds or until thoroughly incorporated.
Using a medium cookie scoop, portion out the dough onto to the prepared pans, pressing down each ball till about 1-inch thickness. Bake for about 15 minutes, cooling on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
I got a little carried away with ALL the possibilities of making cookies out of boxed cake mix. Poor Collin Murray had cookies coming out of his eyes for over a week after I discovered all the ways that I could vary the original recipe for Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake Cookies. In this variation, I used a spice cake mix and added milk chocolate chips and grated carrots to the batter and go figure kids, these additions make the cookie taste just like carrot cake!
In all of my testing, I have found that the one ingredient that needs to remain constant in the cookies is the oatmeal. Without it, the cookies become flat and while the taste remains the same, the texture isn’t as great. If you wanted to add walnuts, coconut — go for it — if you wanted to omit the chocolate — not a problem; these cookies are made for modifications.
Oatmeal Carrot Cake Cookies (adapted from the 1954 Purity Flour Mills cookbook)
Makes 2 dozen cookies
1 box spice cake mix (or carrot cake mix)
2 eggs
⅓ cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups old fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)
1 cup chocolate chips
½ cup grated carrots (about half a carrot)
Preheat oven to 375˚F.
In the bowl of an electric mix fitted with a paddle attachment, combine cake mix and eggs. Beat about one minute to combine. Add water and vanilla and continue beating till smooth, one to two minutes.
Add oats, chocolate chips and grated carrots and beat on low until mixture is thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds.
Using a medium-sized cookie scoop or a tablespoon measure, scoop the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets about two inches apart. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until the cookies are just slightly browned on top. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Enjoy!
I’ve become obsessed lately with boxed cake mix but not for making cake, no, for making cookies. It all started with a recipe I found at the back the 1954 edition of the Purity Flour Mill cookbook…
I don’t know why but the recipe really excited me: I mean, come on, cookies made from cake mix, how could that be bad?! Naturally I had to give the recipe a try and as it turns out, the recipe yielded some of the tastiest cookies I’ve had in a while.
It should come as no surprise that a cookie made with cake mix is soft, chewy and well, cakey. The cake mix acts as the base of the cookie — it replaces the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and soda that normally are apart of cookie batter. The additional ingredients in the recipe, eggs, water, vanilla, chocolate chips and oatmeal, add moisture, flavor and texture to the cookies.
I will warn that the batter is a touch sticky and easier to scoop onto baking sheets if you use a cookie scoop but other then that, this recipe is beautifully simple and will take you literally 20 minutes to bake perfectly delicious cookies.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake Cookies (adapted from the 1954 Purity Flour Mills cookbook)
Makes 2 dozen cookies
1 box white cake mix
2 eggs
⅓ cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)
1 ½ cups chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375˚F.
In the bowl of an electric mix fitted with a paddle attachment, combine cake mix and eggs. Beat about one minute to combine. Add water and vanilla and continue beating till smooth, one to two minutes.
Add oats and chocolate chips and beat on low until mixture is thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds.
Using a medium-sized cookie scoop or a tablespoon measure, scoop the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets about two inches apart. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until the cookies are just slightly browned on top. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Enjoy!
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