Stop by for a free homemade Cowboy Cookie.
February 26th is Buffalo Bill’s 179th Birthday and Bill & Rosa’s Book Room is celebrating with «Cowboy Cookie Day».
The origins of « cowboy cookies » are unknown but Old West lore claims that they were eaten by cowboys as a high energy snack that could be easily carried in a saddle bag. Its a “drop” cookie mashup of oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies, Cowboy cookie dough typically includes flour, brown sugar, eggs, butter, vanilla, oat and coconut. It’s the oat/coconut combination that gives them their chewiness. But the really good stuff is up to the maker. The typical cookie includes a variety of rich ingredients, including chocolate and pecans. Substitute your favorite type of nut if you can’t find pecans which are a specialty of the American south. Other ideas are to add raisins, cranberries, M&Ms, butterscotch chips, corn flakes, rice krispies or pretzel pieces. A teaspoon of cinnamon is an option too.
Cowboy cookies were popularized when First Lady Laura Bush baked « Texas Governor’s Mansion Cowboy Cookies » for the First Lady Bake-Off during her husband George W. Bush’s campaign for the 2000 United States presidential election. As part of the competition, the recipe was printed in Family Circle Magazine, the publication which held the contest. Mrs Bush’s cookies beat Tipper Gore’s recipe for ginger snaps. Bush submitted her recipe for cowboy cookies again in the 2004 bakeoff and beat Teresa Kerry’s pumpkin spice cookies. George W. Bush won both elections.
[From 1992 to 2016, Family Circle Magazine orchestrated a political bake-off during every presidential election year. It was already commonplace for presidential candidates to release family recipes during their campaign—it helped to humanize the candidates and let voters get to know them more. But Family Circle decided to make it into a contest by publishing cookie recipes from the wives of each candidate and asking readers to try baking both and then vote on their favorite. The bake-off results have interestingly almost always predicted the winner of the presidential election. The contest was discontinued why Family Circle Magazine stopped publication after an 87 year run.]
We think Cowboy Cookies are some of the tastiest cookies around. Fresh and warm from the oven, it’s hard to find a better cookie. They are just chock full of good ingredients. These are so good, you’ll wish you had tried them sooner. So come over to Bill & Rosa’s Book Room on Buffalo Bill’s Birthday – that’s February 26 – and enjoy a free homemade cookie.
Read about other cowboy foods including cowboy coffee – made with egg shells! https://www.savortoothtiger.com/recipes/wild-west
Bill & Rosa’s Book Room’s Cowboy Cookie recipe
Make 60 cookies. All ingredients should be at room temperature before starting.
1 ½ cups (225g) all-purpose flour*
1 ½ teaspoons (1 1/2 cuillière à thé) baking powder
1½ teaspoons (1 1/2 cuillière à thé) baking Soda
1½ teaspoons (1 1/2 cuillière à thé) cinnamon
½ teaspoon (1 cuillière à café) Salt
3/4 cup (175g) unsalted butter room temperature
2/3 cup (100g) brown sugar (sucre vergeoise)
2/3 cup (130g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon (1 cuillière à thé) vanilla extract
1 ½ cups (150g) oats
1 cup (100g) shredded coconut
½ cup (60g) chocolate chips
½ cup (50g) pretzel bits
½ cup (50g) chopped nuts
½ cup (75g) raisins
Preheat oven to 350 (180° C) degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, then add light brown sugar and granulated sugar beating on high until mixture is smooth (not gritty when you rub between your thumb and finger).
Add eggs and vanilla and beat on low speed until blended. Add the flour mixture in batches (about 1 cup at a time) and mix on low speed until just blended. Add oats and goodies, beat until just combined.
Working with 1 heaping tablespoon of dough at a time, roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls and lay on prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Chilling the dough for a couple hours makes it less sticky to form the balls.
Bake cookies until they start to brown around the edges, about 10 to 12 minutes.
Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to a rack to cool completely (if you don’t eat them all first!)
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You can make these ahead of time and store for 4-5 days in a closed container, or:
Wrap the cookie dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 4 days. When ready to bake, portion the dough as usual and bake.
Make in dough advance and freeze: Portion the dough into balls and freeze by arranging the balls in a single layer on a tray or plate that can fit into the freezer. Once frozen solid, transfer into a freezer-safe bag or container. Label and date, including the baking temperature and cooking time. Bake the frozen cookie balls straight from the freezer, increasing the baking time by 2 minutes.
*I used half farine semi-complète and half farine de chataigne for a healthier cookie.