These Cowboy cookies are like a regular chocolate chip cookie, only absolutely stuffed with oats, coconut, and pecans to make every bite have the perfect, satisfying crunch!
For another great cookie recipe, try these Pecan & Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies or, for something more Cowboy-friendly, try these Slow Cooker Cowboy Beans.
Cowboy Cookies
Brought into fame by former First Lady Laura Bush, these unctuous and crunchy cookies are not only sweet and delicious, but they are also surprisingly filling.
Perfect for taking with you on a hike or, as they are probably designed for, a cattle drive, these cookies will keep you going for way longer than you’d expect.
Ingredients for Cowboy Cookies
Please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the exact amounts of ingredients. This is just an overview for you to see if you have everything you need to make these cookies.
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Salted butter
- White sugar
- Brown sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Flaked coconut
- Flaked oats
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Pecans
How to Make Cowboy Cookies
- Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla
- Whisk together all of your dry ingredients, then add to the wet mixture, followed by your oats
- Stir in your coconut, pecans, and chocolate by hand
- Form into large balls and place on a lined baking sheet 3 inches apart
- Bake at 350 Fahrenheit for 13 minutes until golden brown, then cool completely before eating
How Big to Make These Cowboy Cookies
Something not often discussed in cookie recipes is how big to make the actual cookies themselves. Most cookie recipes recommend something relatively arbitrary, like “a tablespoon” or “a small ball” of cookie dough, but don’t explain why.
The original recipe for these cookies uses an entire ¼ cup of cookie dough, which makes some seriously large cookies! Seeing as these are Texas cookies, it makes sense that they should be Texas-sized.
However, feel free to do whatever size you like. Just keep in mind that all the extra ingredients in this recipe make it difficult to make a small cookie that still has a little bit of everything. If you tried to go smaller than a 1/8 cup, you would probably find that you get some cookies without any pecans or coconut in it.
What Else Could You Add to These Cookies?
This recipe for Cowboy cookies uses a tried and tested recipe to make a satisfying cookie, however, the base concept of a cowboy cookie is to just stuff as many different crunchy, flavorful things as that you can.
So, if you don’t like pecans or coconut, replace them with something that you do like! Use peanuts instead or maybe even dried pieces of fruit. True, it won’t really be a cowboy cookie anymore but they will be cookies that you like!
And you liking them is all that really matters!
Happy baking!
Love,
Karlynn
Cowboy Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup salted butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 cups flaked coconut
- 2 1/2 cups large flake oats
- 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 cups pecans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Cream the butter and sugars together with a mixer until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time until combined. Add in the vanilla, mix in.
- Whisk together the flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet, mixing thoroughly. Add the oats, combine.
- Stir (by hand) in the coconut, pecans and chocolate chips until combined.
- Form into large balls – the original recipes uses 1/4 cup of dough for Texas sized cookies! – and place onto baking sheets 3 inches apart.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 13-15 minutes, or until they are golden brown. The baking time will depend on how large you make the dough balls.
- Remove and let cook on the baking sheets for 10 minutes then place onto wire baking racks to cool completely.
Notes
- Baking times and nutritional values are all going to depend on how large you make these!
Nutrition
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Sheila R. Maury says
I just made the cookies and I must say they are great and the coconut was perfect. I just made a few changes because of food / medical problems. I used 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup Xylitol . Plus I needed to hold the salt. I doubt if that interfered with the taste. I doubt if they could be better. Enjoy.
Paddy Bateman says
Sounds like a lovely chewy cookie and “yes” to the addition of coconut! Making them this weekend.
Deborah says
Howdy!! (see what I did there?:) )
Fir the coconut….sweetened or unsweetened?