Cowboy Cookies #3

Sorry, no picture.  I ate 'em :)

I am always on the quest to make delicious cookies and to try not to repeat recipes over and over again (aside from standby chocolate chip, which everyone loves).  I've recently grown to love oatmeal cookies especially, modifying them by adding lots and lots of goodies.  These are baked in a muffin tin, making thick, moist cookies.  If cooked on a cookie sheet, these cookies will spread out very thin and be difficult to handle.  

You'll need (for about 3 doz):

• two small boxes fresh raspberries
• 1/2-1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 3/4 cup butter or margarine (I prefer butter!)
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup regular sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract (yes, the real stuff is twice as expensive, but it's one of those things that's worth the extra cash)
• 1 3/4 cups old fashioned oats (not the quick kind, though, in a bind, those will work also, but the texture may be weird, or you may need to adjust other quantities

The steps:

• Just like any other cookie recipe.  Preheat your oven to 375
• Combine softened (not melted) butter & sugars.  You can do all this mixing with a stand mixer if you have one, but be careful not to over mix.  Mix until just combined.  I don't have a mixer, so I just use my handy silicone spatula.
• Add eggs and vanilla to this mixture
• Gradually add in flour, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice
• Once that is all combined, add the oats and coconut.  You can adjust the amount of coconut depending upon how much you like it.  I like a lot, so would probably do 1 cup for this much, but some people don't like it as much.
• Add chocolate chips
• Raspberries are the last to add and should be folded in very gently to avoid too much mashing.  It's somewhat unavoidable to squish a few, but try to be calm, cool, and collected when folding them in.
• Drop by heaping spoonfuls into a greased muffin tin being careful not to over-fill or get dough all over the place.
• Bake for about 12 minutes.
• After cookies have cooled, place them in some sort of container be it tupperware or plastic baggies and place in the freezer.  Trust me.  In a few hours, you'll have amazing, cool, chewy cookies.  They're pretty much impossible to eat at room temperature because they're so soft and crumbly, but frozen, it's decadent (and perfect for these 95degree days we've been having).

Modifications

• You can add other things to these like nuts or not use coconut, whatever you want.  I've made a ton of oatmeal "cowboy cookies" with many different combinations, and this one is definitely my favorite (so far)

Bake away and impress your friends!