Baked Sunday Mornings: Cowboy Cookies

CRISPY ON THE OUTSIDE--GOOEY AND CHEWY ON THE INSIDE

I confess.  I am the cookie monster.  Favorite food in all the world is cookies.  Favorite item to bake is cookies.  So many different flavors, ingredients, textures....ahhhhhh...puts me into a heavenly state just thinking about them (I admit I have a plate with several different varieties of freshly baked cookies, including Cowboy Cookies, right next to me and they are disappearing as I type up this post.)

Part of why I love Christmas so much, and every other holiday for that matter, is the cookies.  Most weeks I go through 6 to 8 pounds of pure, wonderful butter just for cookies.  When guests come to stay I place baskets of cookies on their pillows.  When friends need cheering I take them cookies.  I mail them away to kids away at college.  I take them to share during my adult Sunday school classes (adults are always amazed...they expect that teachers will bring treats for kids, but adults are usually left out), and I make them just for fun to have on my kitchen table so that anyone who comes can have a choice of cookies to munch any time night or day.    Maybe it is the grandmother in me, but the older I get, the more cookies I bake.

READY FOR THE OVEN--I'M INTERESTED TO LEARN HOW SALTY THESE PRETZELS MAKE THESE COOKIES

It was easy to get excited to bake Cowboy Cookies.  I read the ingredient list to determine if any shopping was needed...all usual items, but the list made me smile.  I really love oats with chocolate chips.  Adding a yolk to a whole egg was unusual...the rest of the recipe, except for the pretzels, is very similar to my usual oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Nice to try new things!  I just love trying something different that I end up loving...such is the case with these cookies.

Today was my monthly volunteer day for the Town of Gilbert, AZ.  I spent the morning preparing a presentation for tonight’s Heritage District meeting which began after work...5:30...when everyone really wanted to go home and eat dinner.  Bad time for another meeting.  So to keep attenders awake and lively I decided to bring sugar in the form of cookies.  I baked the usual chocolate chip, then Russian Tea Cakes (or Mexican Wedding Cakes...seems to be similar, but with my Russian daughters we call the cookies "Russian"), Pumpkin White and Dark Chips Cookies (the favorite of our Town Counsel person), Coconut Macaroons, Dorie Greenspan’s World Peace Cookies (using Trader Joe’s bittersweet 17 oz. chocolate bar with almonds; the whole bar) ...one of my personal favorites, and today’s new recipe, the Cowboy Cookies  which, for me, are unusual due to the addition of pretzels.

And now, in a state of heaven (reveling in my sugar high), I am enjoying a few left over cookies, which, before bed, will send me into a state of euphoria and bliss and happy dreams for the night.

MOUNDS OF HEAVEN FRESH FROM THE OVEN

Back to the Cowboy Cookies.  I pointed out the cookies to those attending the meeting and explained that they are made with pretzels rather than nuts.  No one had ever tried cookies with pretzels previously, so everyone was anxious to taste this new recipe.  (And with all the nut allergies these days the pretzels are a good idea for group use.)  

Did the group like the Cowboy Cookies?  100%...everybody consumed more, and then more, and at the close of the meeting, several  attenders wrapped up more in napkins to take home to waiting spouses...I thought that was so nice and, of course, the spouses should have their chance to try cookies with pretzels too.  The other cookies were appreciated and enjoyed, but the “pretzel” cookies were the hit.  They were unusual and scrumptious.  They were just a bit crispy on the outside and chewey-gooey on the inside.  Because the butter used was still cold rather than room temperature, the cookies did not flatten while baking...kept a rounded shape which also distinguished them from their neighboring chocolate chip cookies.

Downstairs in our meeting building is a European bakery.  You should see the cases of beautiful desserts.  Over-The-Top-Overwhelming.  The Cowboy Cookies received what I considered to be a huge compliment as several meeting attenders suggested that the European Bakery should purchase Cowboy Cookies from me for their bakery case.  I just laughed this off by saying that my homemade cookies would never rise up to the fancy bakery confections.  But the committee members tasting my cookies told me that these kind of cookies are what people really want...good homemade fresh baked goods, and I was assured that the Cowboy Cookies would score high.  I’m glad they were so enjoyed.

MY NEW "GOODWILL" PLATE...STOPPED IN YESTERDAY AND FOUND A FEW PLATES AT $.49 EACH JUST SO I CAN HAVE A VARIETY OF "PHOTO PLATES"...NOT THAT MY POINT-AND-SHOOT PHOTOS ARE GREAT, BUT JUST FOR FUN

And, it’s a personal treasure to have a new cookie recipe  added to my loved and desired cookie list.  These cookies are a hit.  They are easy to make, satisfy even the big men... even those wild west Arizona cowboys in our lives, and are delicious.  For the meeting I did not make huge cookies...used a smaller sized scoop that holds a couple of Tablespoons of dough, but I thought they baked up into a nice size.  I doubled the recipe and got 4 X the cookies.  Perfect size for a 2 bite cookie.  THIS ONE'S A KEEPER!