Trail Mix Cookies

If you read my last post, you know that I recently made some homemade trail mix. Yummm! I've been enjoying it as a snack these last few days. This weekend I needed to make a dessert to bring and enjoy with friends while we watched the Super Bowl. That's when I remembered that my friend Jeanne from Adirondack Baker recently made trail mix cookies. Voila! I decided I'd make some too. 

Jeanne's recipe calls for trail mix, as well as coconut and almonds. I chose not to add the coconut and almonds to my cookies, but you definitely can. That's the beauty of this recipe. The extra ingredients you can add are totally flexible! I also cut the original recipe in half here. So the proportions below are what I used when I made these. This recipe made 20 cookies for me that were about 2.5 to 3 inches in diameter.

Ingredients:

-1 stick butter, melted

-2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-1 egg

-1 and 1/8 cups all-purpose flour

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1/2 tsp. salt

-3/4 cup trail mix*

-1/3 cup mini pretzels, crushed

-1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

*I used my own homemade trail mix that was my previous recipe on the blog, but you can use any homemade or store bought mix that you like. Also of note, with mine, I removed the pretzels from the mix and crushed them separately before adding them to the cookie dough. The trail mix itself had whole mini pretzels in it, and I didn't want pretzels of that size in the cookies. :) You can go back to my trail mix post to get other ideas for ingredients you can add to your own trail mix and/or to these cookies!

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Melt butter and pour into a large bowl. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla. Mix completely and let cool for 15 minutes (you add the egg next and don't want to cook the egg!). To the cooled mixture, add the egg and mix well. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the sugar mixture, a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the trail mix and chocolate chips until everything's well combined.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets, and bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned (I baked mine slightly longer than I wanted to, but they still turned out great).

I love the texture of these cookies. Although I cooked them a little longer than I intended, they were still very chewy with only the slightest crisp on the outer edges. Perfection!

Thanks to the Adirondack Baker for such a delicious, unique cookie recipe!

:)