These Wyoming Cowboy cookies are divine! Chewy, coconut-pecan-chocolate goodness.
Jackson Hole is a foodie heaven – so many things to try: Spur Restaurant’s 307 fries, a venison version of poutine named after the local area code, Café Genevieve ‘s Pig Candy (we’ve included a link for that at the end of this post), Alpen Fondue at Alpenhof Lodge, corn chowder at the Silver Dollar Bar and the Snake River Grills’ carnivore, caveman-sized Ribeye. However, as great as all these things are, (and they are great!), the real food standout on our trip was a cookie.
Yes, I said a cookie.
Not just any cookie, however. Wyoming Cowboy Cookies.
These little bits of heaven were served and sold all over Jackson Hole and Yellowstone. After a morning of touring the natural wonders of our nation’s first national park – beautiful waterfalls, wildlife (I saw my first bald eagle!) and geysers, Husband and I decided to have our lunch on the shore of Lake Yellowstone.
Lake Yellowstone
Covid-19 had closed many of the hotels and restaurants so we had to search around to find places that were open.
Lunch on the Lake
We came upon the Lake General Store, a lodge-style structure built of wood and stone. Inside we found a quaint mix of grocery and gift store with a welcoming fire in the fireplace.
Loaded up with our bags of lunch and our haul of souvenirs, we headed outside for a spot near the shore. We settled in on our bench, the water sparkling in the crisp sunshine and the mountains in the distance, frosted by a recent snowfall. A perfect place for our lunch of sandwiches, chips and these wonderful cookies.
They are loaded with everything I love in a cookie – oatmeal, chocolate chips, coconut, pecans. Crispy around the edges and chewy toward the middle. So good!
I tried a few cowboy cookie recipes and they all came up short. Then I found this recipe in A Taste of Home:
When I made these, I knew they were IT! I made only one small change to make them my own.
Wyoming Cowboy Cookies
Wyoming Cowboy Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
- 3/4 cup chopped pecans (I used pecan pralines with sea salt because that’s what Husband bought at the store. Very happy accident – they were so good in the cookies!)
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups old-fashioned oats
- 2 cups (12 ounces) chocolate chips
Instructions
- Place shredded coconut in a single layer on a15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 6 to 8 minutes or until toasted,stirring every 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- (Toasting the coconut before adding it to the dough makes the delicious difference here. It gives the cookie a unique caramelized, nutty flavor.)
- In a large bowl, creambutter and sugars until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture; beat well.
- Stirin the oats, chocolate chips, toasted coconut and pecans.
- Drop by rounded spoonful ontogreased baking sheets.
- (I used a 2” ice cream scoop and that gave usnice, large, chewy cookies).
- Bake at 350° about 12-15 minutes or untilbrowned.
- Take care not tooverbake. You want them tobe crunchy on the outside and a bit chewy on the inside.
- Remove to wire racks to cool.
Mmmm! Chewy and chocolate melty. Try making these and see if you don’t agree!
We also LOVED the Pig Candy we had at Cafe Genevieve in Jackson Hole!
You can find our copycat recipe here:
Can you relate to seeing a beautiful place in a photo? Then you actually see the place for yourself and it takes your breath away. The photo doesn’t compare to the actual location. Well, that’s the case with this cookie recipe. The recipe looks really good, yes, but this is the case of you need to see for yourself for the full effect. I have had these, and they are absolutely delicious, one of the best chocolate chip recipes I’ve come across. I have printed this recipe, and it is now part of my go to cookbook and recipes. (Yes, I do have a very used cookbook with lots of notes, and pasted in recipes. I am old school when it comes to that!) I am looking forward to making these when I start my holiday baking! Give these a try, you’ll be happy you did!
Thank you so much for your eloquent comment! That is how I feel as well. I will be baking these over the holidays too – Husband may give up gingerbread cookies for these as his favorite.
TTD
As a long-time foodie, I have become pretty decent at reading a recipe and anticipating the flavors, aromas and textures I will experience in preparing and eating. After making these cookies, I have this to say:
Leave nothing to the imagination.
Make’em, bake’em.
Eat the treat.
Be rewarded beyond imagining.
Personal adjustments for the next batch:
Less chocolate.
Regular chopped pecans instead of praline pecans.
I’m so happy you liked the cookies! If you make them again with regular chopped pecans, I would suggest roasting them in the oven with the coconut. If you make them that way, please report back on your results.
Thanks so much for your comment on this post!
TTD