Cowboy Blondies Recipe (One Bowl)

Cookies are my love language. Name any type of cookie, and I’ve probably made it at least twice. While it’s hard for me to choose a favorite, some combination of chocolate plus oats usually falls towards the top of the list. 

Monster cookies and cowboy cookies have always been my go-to gift for families welcoming home a baby. They offer comfort to the new parents while providing some sustenance thanks to hearty ingredients like oats and nut butter. 

Now, with three kids of my own, I do not always have time for making drop cookies. I’ve started reworking some of my favorite cookie recipes into bar form to keep things quick and simple. You get all of the homemade cookie flavors in an easy-to-assemble bar; no rotating cookie sheets or endless scooping is required. 

The batter for these cowboy blondies relies heavily on brown sugar to keep it moist and deeply flavored. The addition of peanut butter gives the bars a chewy, somewhat fudgy texture and a subtle nuttiness. 

Paired with the oats, coconut, and pecans, I’d argue you can (and should) eat them for breakfast. I like to ever so slightly underbake my blondies for the best texture; they will continue to cook and set up as they cool. 

The Origins of the Cowboy Cookie

Before cowboy blondies came cowboy cookies. There are a few different origin stories floating around for the loaded cookies, but the one that seems most plausible is that they were invented sometime in the early 1900s to sustain cowboys during particularly long work days on the ranch. Others say they were simply named cowboy cookies because they were invented in Texas. 

However they came to be, one thing that is impossible to argue is how delicious they are. Studded with coconut, pecans, chocolate chips, and oats, they taste like a lovely mix-up of magic bars, chocolate chip cookies, and oatmeal cookies. 

While developing this recipe, I discovered that cowboy cookies had a bit of a moment in 2000 during the Bush-Gore presidential campaign when Laura Bush submitted them to Family Circle magazine, competing against Tipper Gore’s ginger snaps. How very early 2000s! 

Make These Cowboy Blondies Your Own

Laura Bush’s version is heavy on cinnamon, but I felt the spice muddied the flavor of the mix-ins too much. Some people like to add caramel on top of the baked cookies, which would be amazing if you were enjoying the blondie version as the base of a sundae for dessert. 

Feel free to play around with the mix-ins. You can easily swap pecans for walnuts or even dry-roasted unsalted peanuts. I’ve seen some recipes that include dried fruit like raisins, and I think dried cranberries or cherries would complement the other flavors here, too. If adding fruit, I’d only add about 1/2 cup; any more might overload the batter and make things a tad too sweet. 

Easy Bars for Baking