Yesterday was National Cookie Day. I couldn't let it pass with no cookies. I had to make at least a few cookies in honor of the big day. Never mind that the Whole Paycheck place (it's still expensive, despite the big A takeover) was offering half off its cookies. So, I decided to do a simple cookie--the kind you'd find in your grandmother's cookie jar or that you'd hope to find waiting for you on the kitchen table with a glass of milk or tea (okay, I said "hope," okay?). My Cookie Day cookies are a cross between ranger cookies and cowboy cookies. They have healthy oats, crispy rice cereal, and plenty of coconut and pecans in them. The cookies don't have chocolate chips and instead have butterscotch morsels, which amplify the caramel taste of the brown sugar in the cookies. If you can't handle a National Cookie Day cookie that lacks chocolate chips, feel free to add in half a cup of semi-sweet morsels. The cookies will be great with or without the chocolate. Just be sure and share the cookies and say "Happy National Cookie Day!" And if you'd like to bake the cookies for Advent, please do so. People will like them and you!
Cookie Day Cookies -- Ranger/Cowboy Cookies -- Makes about 24
1/4 cup of butter, melted
1/4 cup of canola oil
1/4 cup of sugar
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 cup of flour
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1 cup of oats (regular, old fashioned)
1/2 cup of crispy rice cereal
1/2 cup of shredded coconut
1/2 cup of butterscotch morsels
1 cup of chopped pecans
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and coat cookie sheets with non-stick cooking spray or line them with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine the butter, canola oil, and sugars. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder and stir to combine everything. Stir in the oats, crispy rice cereal, coconut, butterscotch morsels, and pecans. Drop tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared cookie sheets, spacing the cookies at least 2 inches apart (don't overcrowd the sheets). Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes or until golden but still a little moist looking in the middle (the cookies will firm up on standing). Let the cookies cool a few minutes before removing them from the cookie sheets to cool completely.
