Cowboy Cookies | In Which I Try Not to Be a Food Blogger
And by that I mean restraining myself from making you scroll for miles before getting to the ingredient list.
Not gonna talk about what these cookies have in common with roadblocks and Jane Austen and hunting camps. Nope, not going to go there.
(Not until the end of the post, that is. So keep readin', keep readin'.)
Cowboy Cookies
(Credit goes to Raegan and Micah, two sisters who know how to make killer-good cookies.)
Ingredients
1 1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chocolate chips
1 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Batter can be really stiff, so I always use my hands.
Shape into walnut sized balls. (Again, I use my hands!) Place 2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 350º F for 11-13 minutes. Allow to sit on sheet for about 5 minutes before removing to wire rack.
That's all, folks!
Yield: about 2 dozen
Okay, where to start with these hearty hunks of awesomeness?
Every October, without fail, I am whipping up huge batches for a very special weekend. My grandpa, uncle, dad, brothers, brother-in-law, tote bags of these cookies out to the woods for a camping trip that has been a tradition for generations. Sometimes they're blessed with cold campfire weather, but most times it's still hot enough to melt the chocolate chips, poor guys.
Meanwhile, we girls keep some back to munch on while we stay up late and watch Pride and Prejudice (the long one, naturally), Emma (that would be the one with Jonny Lee Miller, of course!), North and South, or Cranford.... seeing a pattern here?
There's a story going around that on the drive to one of the aforementioned camping trips, the guys were stuck behind construction for a long time. Rumor has it, they rolled down their windows to talk to the worker holding the stop sign and ended up giving him a few cookies. He then waved them and only them through the slow zone.
And then there are the deer hunting trips in the barren hills of west Texas -- there are trophy photos in existence where brothers and friends are proudly holding up antlers... with cookies stuffed in their cheeks. Grown men. I kid you not.
Nowadays, these cookies are my and Daniel’s official adventure fuel. Whether we are headed to the mountains or the beach, we drive with music blaring, baby in the back seat, exploration on the brain, and a tub of these cookies between us.
Just saying. Cowboy Cookies can be dangerously effective in high doses. I fully intend to stock up on them should we be stranded in a self-sufficiency situation. I imagine they'll rank right up there with ammunition and gold as bartering goods.