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Cowboy cookies are the cookies you make when you want to wow a crowd! These soft, chewy cookies are loaded with oats, coconut and pecans. Plus, they’re ready in just 25 minutes from start to finish.
This is the BEST Cowboy Cookie Recipe
Do you ever feel like you haven’t met a cookie you didn’t like?
No, right? Yeah, me too!
These cookies are like a supped up chocolate chip oatmeal cookie because in addition to chocolate chips and oats, there’s also shredded coconut and chopped pecans.
Who knew there was room for all that in a single cookie?! I’m here to tell you there is definitely room and that it’s one AWESOME flavor combination.
What are Cowboy Cookies?
Depending on what you read on the internet, cowboy cookies got their name from being the cookie cowboys ate while on the trail OR they became well known as a cookie from Laura Bush’s kitchen during a presidential cookie competition.
Our take on Laura Bush’s cowboy cookies are basically a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie with shredded coconut and pecans added in. And they are so good.
Cowboy Cookies Recipe Ingredients
Oats, chocolate chips, shredded coconut and chopped pecans (or walnuts) make up the quintessential Cowboy Cookie mix-ins. Beyond that the cookie calls for..
- all purpose flour: flour is necessary to build structure in these cookie bars
- baking powder: helps to leaven and lift the dough
- baking soda: helps to leaven and lift the dough
- salt: just a pinch to balance the sweetness
- unsalted butter: adds flavor and tender texture
- granulated sugar: adds sweetness, flavor and encourages browning
- brown sugar: adds sweetness & flavor, keeps the cookies moist and adds chewiness
- eggs: binds the cookies together by providing structure
- vanilla extract: adds flavor
Cowboy Cookie Variations
What Kind of Oats to Use in Cowboy Cookies?
I prefer to use quick cooking oats, but if you want that chewier oat texture, you can use old fashioned rolled oats.
What kind of nuts to use in Cowboy Cookies?
Our recipe calls for chopped pecans, but feel free to use chopped walnuts if you prefer.
How to make this Cowboy Cookie Recipe Gluten Free
I have made this cowboy cookie recipe multiple times with King Arthur’s Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour with great success. I use that brand of flour as a one for one substitute for regular all purpose flour.
How to Make Cowboy Cookies
- Combine the oats, chocolate chips, shredded coconut and chopped pecans in a separate bowl. Remove 3/4 cup and reserve for later. Set aside.
- Combine the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Set aside.
- Cream the butter, sugar and brown sugar together with a mixer.
- Add in the eggs and vanilla extract, beat again until smooth.
- Gently add in the dry ingredients, mixing on low or by hand just until combined. It’s OKAY to see some flour remaining
- Stir in the oats, chocolate chips, coconut and pecans. The batter will be thick.
- Use a cookie scoop to drop dough balls on a silicone mat lined baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes.
Cowboy Cookie Recipe Baking Time Suggestions
For the cookies in the photos, the dough balls were about 3 tbsp, so that’s a large cookie! I baked those for 12 minutes – just when the outside of the cookie would begin to turn golden in color. The result is a soft & chewy cookie!
If you make smaller dough balls, you should reduce the baking time otherwise the cookies will be over done.
How Long Does it Take to Make this Recipe for Cowboy Cookies?
- 10 minutes to prep the dough
- 12-14 minutes to bake the cookies
- 5-10 minutes to cool until you eat!
Cowboy Cookie Tips
- Properly measure the all purpose flour using the spoon and sweep method.
- Use room temperature butter for easier creaming of the butter and sugar.
- Combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until they are combined. Over mixing could lead to dry, dense cookies.
- Press extra chocolate chips, shredded coconut and pecans on the outside of the dough balls before baking for a wow loaded cowboy cookie presentation!
How to Freeze Cowboy Cookies
- To freeze cowboy cookie dough (not pre-baked cookies)
Drop cookie dough balls onto a silicone mat lined baking sheet. You can place the dough balls close together since you won’t be baking them. - Place the baking sheet in the freezer until the cookies are frozen solid, about 1 hour.
- Remove the baking sheet from the freezer and transfer the frozen cookie dough balls to a ziplock freezer bag. Label the bag with baking directions. Freeze the cookie dough for up to 3 months.
- To bake: remove the dough from the freezer. Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF. Bake for 14-17 minutes. Frozen cookies may need to bake for 1-2 minutes longer than non frozen cookies.
To freeze already baked cookies:
Once the cookies have cooled completely, wrap them in bundles of 5-6 cookies in plastic wrap. Then store inside a freezer ziplock bag. To thaw, place a bundle on the counter for a few hours.
If you love oat based cookies, make oat flour cookies. They are similar to chocolate chip cookies, but use oat flour as the base!
More Cookies Recipes
- Classic Monster Cookies
- Maraschino Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Black Forest Cookies
- Cut Out Sugar Cookies
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Best Recipe for Cowboy Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup quick cooking oats
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, 12 oz bag
- ¾ cup shredded coconut flakes
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º F. In a smaller mixing bowl, combine the quick cooking oats, chocolate chips, shredded coconut and chopped pecans. Remove 3/4 cup for later. Set everything aside.
- In a separate smaller mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer for 1-2 minutes, until fluffy. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract.
- Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, mixing with a spatula just until there are small flour streaks left – it’s okay if the batter has clumps!
- Reserve 3/4 cup of the mix-ins for later, but mix the rest into the batter. The batter will be thick. Use a cookie scoop to form dough balls, rolling the balls in the reserved mix-ins and pressing the mix-ins in slightly.
- Place the cookies onto a lined baking sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes or until the edges just begin to turn a golden color. Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet for 10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. *Note: my cookie dough balls were about 3 tbsp of dough, so fairly large. If your cookie dough balls are smaller, reduce the baking time.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
These remind me of what we call monster cookies! So so good!
HI! Nice Recipe! I want to make them with rolled oats.. how much should I use it?
1 cup!
Will that be 1 cup of oak
Yes!! Thank you for catching that, I have updated it to read 1 cup quick cooking oats.
My daughter made these yesterday. Since we didn’t have pecans we substituted with crunchy chow mein noodles! This was excellent! Baked these big cookies for 14 min. Making another batch to give to a friend. Yay!
Wow!! Way to be creative without any nuts on hand!!!
These are divine!! I modified a few ingredients because #operationcleanoutthepantry during quarantine but still, so so good!! Thank you so much for sharing your love of sweets!
My modifications:
2 packets of organic instant oats from my breakfast stash
A 12oz bag of milk choc morsels
Coconut shavings (chips)
Walnuts
Half stick Crisco + stick butter
Whoa! I noticed the discrepancy in the amount of flour, oatmeal and butter just as I was stirring in the “mix-ins”. So I added in another 1/2 stick butter (2 C. Total) to the 1 1/2 C flour and 1 1/2 C oatmeal. With a total of 3 C flour/oatmeal I figured it would bake OK. I don’t like surprises like that. Yes, they were still tasty.
Hi Amy! I am confused by what you mean by discrepancy in the amount of flour, oatmeal and butter. To clarify about the mix ins – save 3/4 cup so you can roll the outside of the cookies in. But you could skip this step and simply add all the mix ins into the batter.
Sweetened or unsweetened coconut?
Thank you
I used sweetened shredded coconut.
These cookies are 10/10. They were delicious and easy to make. I will be making them again!