Cowboy Cookies

NY Times recipe from Marian Burros who states, “This recipe came to The Times in 2000 during the Bush-Gore presidential campaign when Family Circle magazine ran cookie recipes from each of the candidates’ wives and asked readers to vote. Laura Bush’s cowboy cookies, a classic chocolate chip cookie that’s been beefed up with oats, pecans, coconut and cinnamon, beat Tipper Gore’s ginger snaps by a mile. Here is an adaptation of that winning recipe.”

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Cowboy Cookies

  • Total time: 30 Minutes
  • Servings: 3-4 Dozen

Ingredients

  • 3 Cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
  • 1 Tbsp Baking Soda
  • 1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 1/2 Cups (3 Sticks) Butter, at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
  • 1 1/2 Cups Packed Light-Brown Sugar
  • 3 Eggs
  • 1 Tbsp Vanilla
  • 3 Cups Semisweet Chocolate Chips
  • 3 Cups Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats
  • 2 Cups Unsweetened Flake Coconut
  • 2 Cups (8 oz) Chopped Pecans

Directions

  • 1)

    Heat oven to 350°F.

  • 2)

    Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in bowl.

  • 3)

    In a very large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth and creamy. Gradually beat in sugars, and combine thoroughly.

  • 4)

    Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Beat in vanilla.

  • 5)

    Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips, oats, coconut and pecans.

  • 6)

    For each cookie, drop 1/4 cup dough onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart.

  • 7)

    Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, until edges are lightly browned; rotate sheets halfway through. Remove cookies from rack to cool.

Notes

From the website:

“To address the flat cookie problem, I suggest cutting down on the butter; this makes the proportion of flour to butter greater, and I think will allow dough more rising from the leavening. (And are we trying to hit cardiac arrest level of butter, or what?)”

“Chill the dough for 24 hours, and your cookies will be crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.”

“This is a good recipe!! After making it as written the first time, I now make a few adjustments…decrease the flour by up to a cup, increase the amount of oats by half a cup, toast the pecans before adding and use dark chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet.”

Source: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/4997-cowboy-cookies