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Cowboy Cookies are chewy oatmeal and brown sugar cookies, where you can throw a ton of delicious extras in the dough. I don’t really consider these to be oatmeal cookies but rather cookies with some oatmeal in them. This is my favorite base recipe for soft and chewy cookies made with oatmeal. They are easy to make and adding different mix-ins changes them in so many ways.
I always use quick oats in this recipe as they make them nice and crispy on the edges and perfectly soft and chewy in the middle. Old-fashioned oats may be used but can result in a chewier texture.
Today, as my mix-in I added 1 cup of chopped dried apricots to them, yum. Use a sharp knife or kitchen shears to chop the apricots.
The great thing is you can choose your favorite mix-ins. These cookies are amazing with raisins, dried cherries, or cranberries. When making them with raisins, I add 2 tsp of ground cinnamon. I love making these with butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, or even cinnamon chips. Okay, they are great with any flavor of baking chips. Or use up some leftover Halloween candy, chopped-up candy bars, malted milk balls, caramel chunks, toffee pieces, or M&M’s. You could also add walnuts, pecans, roasted peanuts, almonds, or coconut if you wish.
The cookie dough can be pre-scooped and frozen for future use. When I had enough baked, I placed the whole pan in the freezer with the pre-scooped dough on it. Once frozen I transferred them to a labeled and dated zip lock bag and placed them back in the freezer for later. To bake straight from the freezer, you may need to add a couple of minutes to the baking time.
Finished cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to a week if they last that long, or frozen for later.
Cowboy Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 2½ cups quick oats
- 1 to 2 cups of your favorite mix-in (dried fruit, any flavor baking chip, nuts, etc.)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, cream butter, oil, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Gradually stir in the sifted ingredients until well blended. Mix in oats and your favorite mix-ins. Drop from a tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are golden. Let set on the cookie sheets for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
