Why are they called Cowboy Cookies?
No idea. Please comment if you know. :-)
These cookies have been a favorite in my family for years. I remember baking them using a scrap of cut-out newspaper yellowed with age. We kept losing the piece of paper and finally wrote it down on a recipe card when I was about ten. No idea when my grandmother first cut it out of the paper, but it seemed like a long time ago when I was growing up. This recipe can be made with or without nuts (nuts are pretty controversial in my family), but I think they are definitely better with the finely chopped pecans.
Also, one important danger with these cookies is over mixing. This can happen especially easily if you are using a hand-mixer. A kitchen aid works best in my experience, but you can definitely use a hand-mixer, just proceed with caution and stop mixing as soon as the ingredients are uniformly combined.
Cowboy Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks of unsalted butter)
1 cup of granulated sugar
1 cup of brown sugar (not densely packed down)
2 eggs
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups of quick-oats
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)
6-9 oz of semisweet chocolate chips.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and both granulated sugar and brown sugar until well-blended.
Add eggs and mix until well-combined.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture a little bit at a time, mixing between or as you make additions.
Add in quick oats a little bit at a time, mixing between or as you make additions. Sprinkle in vanilla so that it combines evenly while mixing.
Add in pecans while mixing.
Stir in chocolate chips a handful at a time until your reach desired level of chocolaty-ness.
Use a mini-scooper on parchment paper to scoop out cookies onto cookie sheet. (I LOVE Costco's parchment paper)
Bake from 9-11 minutes depending on how hot your oven runs. Take out when just SLIGHTLY golden brown on top.
Leave on cookie sheet to cool for 3-4 minutes. Then I place on a silicone-type cutting board to keep the cookies slightly gooey. (This probably violates baking rules, oh well.)
Enjoy the delicious result!!