Trail Mix Cookies

Recipe overview

Start by making the oatmeal cookie dough:

1. Combine dry ingredients (flour, oats, salt, baking soda).
2. Beat butter brown sugar, and honey.
3. Add egg and vanilla to sugar mixture.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.

Once the dough is prepared you can stir in the mix-ins. I add one heaping cup of nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and chocolate chips.

Scoop the dough into 2-tablespoon balls and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Recipe tips

• Butter should be softened to cool room temperature. It should be soft but still cool to the touch. If the butter is over-softened (or beginning to melt) the cookies will spread too much in the oven.
• Line your baking sheets with parchment paper. This helps the cookies bake evenly and prevents them from spreading too much. Bonus: it also makes cleanup a breeze!
• Use a cookie scoop for evenly sized cookies. I like to make these cookies fairly large, about 2-tablespoons of dough per cookie.
• For thicker cookies leave the dough balls in mounds. For thinner cookies (pictured), lightly press down on the dough mounds before baking.
• Nestle a few extra “chips” or nuts on top of the dough balls before baking. This makes for a prettier cookie.
• Under bake the cookies. You should remove these cookies from the oven when they are just starting to turn light golden brown around the edges but they are still undercooked in the center. They should be so soft that you cannot pick them up off the baking sheet without them falling apart. They will firm up as they cool on the baking sheet.

What trail mix to use

You can use already prepared trail mix or you can use your own blend of nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and chocolate chips. Roughly chop any large nuts and avoid savory flavored trail mix.

If all of your trail mix is salted you can omit the salt in the recipe. If some components are salted (for example, I only had roasted salted pepitas), you can reduce the added salt or leave it based on your taste preferences. I like a noticeable salty-sweet balance.

Serving and storage

Serving: Serve these cookies at room temperature, chilled, or slightly warm (not too warm or they’ll fall apart).

Storage: Store tightly covered at room temperature for up to 3 days or refrigerated for up to 5 days. Cookies may be frozen for up to 3 months (double wrapped).