Cowboy Cookies

My children are home from school once again today because Old Man Winter is dealing us yet another relentless blast of treacherous weather.  This is the second snow day this week.  Fortunately, our school district "powers that be" had the fortitude to have our children attend school on President's Day in an effort to, ironically, balance things out with our snow day issue.  We're dealing with a one-step-forward-two-steps-back situation right now.  At this rate, we'll still be in school on the Fourth of July!

Another day of  running errands and getting things done around the house has been thwarted.  As they say, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.  Or in our case...we make cookies!  This is a great day for cookies.  Of course, in my book, ANY DAY is a great day for cookies.

This one is a recipe I began making about 12 years ago or so.  It was in Good Housekeeping magazine (I think) and was submitted by Laura Bush while her husband, George, was either running for President or had just been elected into the White House.  Either way, I was drawn into the list of ingredients, one of them being one of my favorite baking staples...chocolate chips!

Texas Governor's Mansion Cowboy CookiesHere's What You Need:

1 1 /2 cups flour

1/2 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 Tablespoon baking soda

1/2 Tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 Tablespoon vanilla

1/1 2 cups chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups oats

1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut

Here's What You Do:

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl.  Set aside.  In the bowl of your mixer, beat the butter until it's creamy. Add the sugar and brown sugar and beat until well combined.  Add the egg and vanilla.  Slowly add the flour mixture.  Once that is mixed in, add the oats, chocolate chips and coconut and mix until everything is combines. 

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Drop the cookie dough on the baking sheets a couple of inches apart.  You can make these into big, monster-sized cookies or smaller so you can get away with eating 2 or 3 and not feel so guilty.  Bake anywhere from 9-13 minutes depending on the size of the cookies.  These need to come out of the oven while they look underbaked so they'll remain soft and chewy.  Otherwise, these do tend to be a crispy cookie.  If you'd like to add pecans, they make a nice addition to this recipe.  Just add one cup chopped pecans at the end.