Farmgirl’s Crazy Cookies
This once upon a time, this farmgirl was recently roped into caring for my sister’s chickens while she was away for the weekend. Not a bad deal when you get to keep the egg you find. Being around chickens is nothing new to me, but yet when it’s you verses a hen sitting on eggs it can be quit comical. As a kid I remember the chicken experience differently (yes mom, I do remember once in awhile 😉 ) Let’s take a peek at the pretty colored eggs that the girls, my fine feathered friends, my egg suppliers left me…
When my kids were younger, they spent time around chickens at my grandparents’ house. My older son, Joseph, took a real liking to the farm way of life. When he was little, Joseph loved going to Baba and Papa’s house to collect eggs. He would light up every time. It was so cute to watch. Now, at 11 years old he is the official coop cleaner at my sister Beth’s house. He has such a kindness to him that even the birds flock to him. Maybe they enjoy listening to his humming while he works 🙂
One day over the summer, I had a houseful of neighborhood kids, plus my own. This means cookies are needed! Plus, I didn’t have any popsicles 🙂 (hah the real truth!) While searching for one of my kids’ favorite recipes (which I couldn’t find then) I came across this recipe. Farmgirl’s crazy cookies were the perfect fit to my earlier experience collecting the eggs. Adding a little crazy in a cookie can only equal tasty goodness!
This recipe is similar to the ranger cookies that I make for the kids. A co-worker turned me onto the ranger cookie and it has been one perfect cookie taste for my family. Both cookie recipes (farmgirl and ranger) basically throw a combination of flavor of chips and textures by adding oats, pretzels, coconut, or rice krispies. Are you beginning now to see the crazy to the recipe?
I did alter the recipe a tad to create my own crazy combination that all kids would like. The orignal recipe called for milk chocolate chips, I used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead. I also subbed 1 cup of M&M’s for the butterscotch chips. I omitted the coconut only because some little people (and I guess big people) don’t care for it. I prefer to use a smaller cookie scoop (about a heaping tablespoon size). My combo turned out to be kid approved! I had to work fast with all the hungry kids and needing to snap photos for this post. While taking the photos, there were all sizes of kid hands creeping in grabbing cookies and the M&M’s. It was very entertaining to say the least.
Let’s see what kind of flavor combos you can come up with. Or maybe just go visit some hens to get the farmgirl/boy experience.
Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) melted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup semi-chocolate chips
1 cup plain M&M’s
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Directions
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a heavy duty baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat baking sheet.
Place the melted butter in a large bowl and stir in the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Stir in the eggs and vanilla, mixing well.
Stir in the flour, salt, and baking soda (combine these together before adding in if desired), mixing just until combined. Stir in the oats, chocolate chips, M&M’s, and pecans.
The dough will be soft and the cookies will spread while baking. For slightly thicker cookies, chill the dough for about 30 minutes.
Use a small cookie scoop (roughly 1 heaping tablesoon) to form cookies and place on a baking sheet. I usually get 9 to 12 cookies per sheet (depends how heaping my scoop is).
Bake until the centers are set, about 15-17 minutes. For crunchier cookies, increase the baking time. (You can also make smaller cookies; just reduce the baking time.)
Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Adapted from farmgirlfare.com