Cowboy Cookies

Cowboy cookies are a hearty variation on an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. Packed with oats, chocolate chips, coconut, and pecans, these chewy cookies are anything but ordinary.

If you’re going to bake cookies, you might as well put in the effort to make big, hearty cookies, right?

That’s what I think about today’s cookie recipe, at least.

These cowboy cookies are anything but dainty. They’re big, chewy, and absolutely bursting with chocolate chips, oats, coconut, and pecans.

They’re a substantial cookie that makes for a great treat to share with neighbors and friends in need of cheering up. Or for just making on a random weekday. After all, why not?

WHAT ARE COWBOY COOKIES?

Cowboy cookies became famous around the country during the 2000 presidential election when Family Circle magazine ran a cookie competition between Laura Bush and Tipper Gore. 

Laura Bush submitted her cowboy cookie recipe, which won by a landslide over Tipper Gore’s ginger snap recipe.

I don’t know if cowboy cookies were well known in Texas before that, but the rest of the country definitely caught on and the recipe has become very popular. It’s been adapted by a ton of different folks, but the version from the New York Times is my favorite.

These cookies are like what might happen if you combined my favorite chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, and cornflake cookies. They are a chewy cookie packed with oats, chocolate chips, coconut, and chopped pecans. 

My guess is that they’re called cowboy cookies because the recipe is from Texas and they are hearty enough to feed a cowboy, but no one knows for sure where they got their name!

All I know is that they’re absolutely delicious.

HOW TO MAKE COWBOY COOKIES

As far as cookie recipes go, this cowboy cookie recipe is pretty straightforward. 

Ingredients you’ll need

To make these cookies, you will need:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1½ cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1½ cups granulated sugar
• 1½ cups packed light-brown sugar
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups flaked coconut 
• 2 cups chopped pecans 
• flaky sea salt, optional

I know that seems like a long list, but a lot of those ingredients are the mix-ins! 

Do me a favor and do not skip the cinnamon in this recipe. I know a tablespoon of cinnamon seems like a lot, but it is one of the “secret” ingredients that makes these cookies so phenomenal.

When it comes to the coconut, you can use sweetened or unsweetened coconut – it’s your choice. Use sweetened if you don’t mind the cookies being a little sweeter; stick to unsweetened if you prefer a less-sweet cookie.

You might be able to tell from the amounts in the ingredients list that this recipe makes a LOT of dough for a LOT of cookies. I have a 7-quart KitchenAid stand mixer and it handled this recipe just fine, but if you have a smaller stand mixer, I recommend using a very large mixing bowl and an electric hand mixer instead.

Making this recipe

Start by whisking together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

Next, cream together the butter until smooth and creamy, then add the sugars and beat until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, followed by the vanilla.

Slowly add the dry ingredients until just combined, then add in the mix-ins: chocolate chips, oats, coconut, and pecans.

Once the mix-ins are fully incorporated, cover the dough and refrigerate for 12-24 hours. Yes, I promise you want to wait the full amount of time!

When it’s time to bake, let the dough rest at room temperature while your oven preheats and while you line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Use a ¼ cup measuring cup or a large cookie scoop to portion out the cookies onto the baking sheets. Make sure to space them 3 inches apart – these are big cookies so they’ll spread a lot. Use the palm of your hand or the bottom of a glass to slightly flatten each dough ball.

Bake for 16-18 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are lightly browned.

As I said, these cookies are large and spread a lot. If you’d like, you can follow my instructions for how to make perfectly round cookies to reshape them into perfect circles.

I like to sprinkle my cowboy cookies with a bit of flaky sea salt while they’re still hot from the oven. Let them cool on the pans for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.  

HELPFUL RESOURCES

Before getting started, make sure you know how to measure flour correctly.

Your butter and eggs should both be at room temperature when you start making these cowboy cookies. Get my tips for how to bring butter and eggs to room temperature. 

Using brown sugar helps make these cookies chewy. If you run out, learn how to make a simple brown sugar substitute, and learn how to soften brown sugar if yours has hardened. 

This dough uses fine sea salt and I like to top my finished cowboy cookies with flaky sea salt. Learn about the types of salt to find out the difference between them.

RECIPE FAQS

How long can you store cowboy cookies?

Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Can you freeze cowboy cookies?

You can freeze cowboy cookies either before or after baking.

Once baked, store them in a zip-top freezer bag and freeze for up to one month.

If you want to freeze the dough, follow my instructions for how to freeze cookie dough. The only change I’d make for these cookies is to slightly flatten the dough balls before freezing them.

Since this recipe makes so many cookies, freezing the dough means that you can make as many of the cookies as you like now and save the rest for later.

Can you use quick oats instead of rolled oats?

Technically, yes. You can use quick oats in place of rolled oats in these cookies, but the texture of the cookies will change quite a bit.

Because there are so many oats in this recipe, the way the cookies bake up may change somewhat as well. I personally don’t recommend using quick oats – I think the rolled oats make for the perfect cowboy cookie – but it is possible to use them if you need to.

Can you leave out the coconut or pecans?

In many recipes, I would say that you can simply omit the coconut or the pecans if you are allergic or just don’t care for them.

However, in the case of these cowboy cookies, the recipe calls for a lot of both ingredients. That means that leaving one of them out could really affect the way the cookies bake up.

If you do need to leave a mix-in out, I recommend replacing it with something else. Just keep in mind that you won’t have a classic cowboy cookie, but a whole new creation of your own!