What’s Cooking in the Deep State, Super Secret Bakery -Laura Bush’s Cowboy Cookies!

In 2000, Laura Bush’s Texas Governor’s Mansion Cowboy Cookies went up against Tipper Gore’s Gingersnaps.

Today I’m only offering up Laura Bush’s cookie recipe, because, well… her’s didn’t work out for me.  So you’re getting two recipes today, but they’re both for Cowboy Cookies.

We’ll do Tipper Gore’s Gingersnaps next week.  Let’s hope we only have to do one version of that one!  🙂

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Laura Bush’s Texas Governor’s Mansion Cowboy Cookies

Recipe from Family Circle 

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups sweetened flake coconut
• 2 cups chopped pecans (8 ounces)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350° F.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in bowl.
3. In 8-quart bowl, beat butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy, 1 minute.
4. Gradually beat in sugars to combine, 2 minutes.
5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each.
6. Beat in vanilla.
7. Stir in flour mixture until just combined.
8. Add chocolate chips, oats, coconut and pecans.
9. For each cookie, drop 1/4 cup dough onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart.
10. Bake in 350° F oven 17 to 20 minutes, until edges are lightly browned; rotate sheets halfway through. Remove cookies to rack to cool.

My Notes

The addition of cinnamon and coconut is a welcome variation to the usual oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. However, this recipe didn’t work out for me, no matter how I tried. The cookies got really brown on the edges, but were under-baked in the middle. I tried patting them down, to no avail. Tried baking smaller cookies; that didn’t work, either. There just is too much butter to flour/sugar. 

If you check out comments on this recipe around the web, it’s a very common complaint that the cookies don’t come out. Because of that, I’m offering a revised version that does work, as evidenced by the photo accompanying today’s post.

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LD’s Revised Cowboy Cookies

Makes about 45 cookies

Ingredients

• 3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups sweetened flake coconut
• 2 cups chopped pecans (8 ounces)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350° F.
2. Place parchment on a cookie sheet.
3. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl.
4. Cream butter and sugars together for 2 minutes on low speed.
5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each.
6. Add vanilla.
7. Stir in flour mixture until just combined.
8. Add chocolate chips, oats, coconut, and pecans.
9. Using a large (3 Tbsp) cookie scoop, drop dough onto parchment-covered cookie sheets, spacing 3 inches apart.
10. Pat down each cookie until it’s around half the height of the ball of dough.
11. Bake in 350° oven for 12-14 minutes until edges are lightly browned.
12. After a few minutes, remove to a wire rack to cool.