Cowboy cookies

After my oatmeal cookie experiment earlier, I received an email with the REAL family Cowboy Cookie recipe. I was a bit worried, because it said 'Makes 100 cookies' - luckily that didn't come to be, but it did make a big batch - 55 by my count. Essentially, this is an oatmeal-chocolate-chip cookie that's not too heavy on the oatmeal (Now that I look at it, it's practically the same recipe, doubles, as the previous oatmeal chocolate chip recipe, minus cinnamon. Oh well.). My favorite cowboy approved of the results, so here is the recipe to share with you:

Family Cowboy Cookies
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 c. oatmeal
1 6-oz. pkg. chocolate chips
1 c. chopped nuts, raisins, or coconut (opt.)

Sift together first four ingredients. Set aside.

Blend shortening with sugars; add vanilla. Stir in eggs and beat until fluffy. Add flour mixture and remaining ingredients.

Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet (I discovered with the first group I put in that these do NOT spread, so, my normal strategy of forming dough into 1-inch balls created cookies that were 1-inch balls. The rest, I flattened the 1-inch balls into disks with better cookie-shaped results.). Bake at 350 for 8-10 min. (chewy). Up to 15 min. (crisp).

I baked mine for 10 minutes, approximately, and they were crispy on the outside-chewy on the inside right out of the oven, but crisp all over today. Still good, but I might try a lower cooking time next time.

And, yes, this was all done with my handy-dandy wooden spoon.