Trail Mix Cookies: not only are they so good to eat but they’re loaded with fiber and contain very little butter or flour. Use whatever nuts, seeds and dried fruit you have on hand and play around with them until you have the particular flavor combos you love. Cashew, pecan and pepitas are a favorite combination of the nuts and seeds. For the dried fruit: dates, apricots and cranberries are a fabulous trio.
The mixture is heavy with nuts and fruit making you think the dough won’t come together, laden with all those goodies, but it does – you might have to put a little elbow grease into this part of the recipe. Make sure to let the nuts and oats cool after toasting and use an ice cream scoop to measure – much easier. The dough yields just 12 cookies so you might considering making a double batch. You’ll be glad you did.
You might have to hide them as they’ll go fast. Enjoy!
TRAIL MIX COOKIES
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups nuts and seeds hazelnuts, cashews and pepitas or almonds, pecans and sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup old fashioned oats rolled oats
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar packed
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extra
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of course sea salt plus a generous pinch for the top of the cookies – preferably Maldon flaked salt
- 1 cup assorted dried fruit chopped if big such as apricots, figs and dates (I used cranberries or dates, apricots, golden raisins)
- 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips milk or white chocolate are also good
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Arrange the oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) or 25° lower temp if your oven is fan-forced. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Spread the nuts, seeds and oats on one of the baking sheets. Cook, stirring once during cooking, until the nuts are golden-brown; let cool for at least 15 minutes.
- In a large bowl, mix together the egg, butter, both sugars, vanilla, baking soda and a pinch of salt. Add the cooled nut mixture. Then the dried fruit mixture, the chocolate chips and the flour. Stir until the dried fruit and the nuts are well coated, this might take a little elbow grease. The mixture will look like there’s too many nuts and fruit but trust me, it works. At this stage you can cover the bowl really well so it doesn’t absorb any fridge smells and chill it for 2 hours or up 3 days (obviously if you’re going to do this you are not going to preheat your oven until you are ready to bake the cookies). I don’t chill the mixture; I mix the dough and then bake the cookies immediately.
- Using a standard ice cream scoop to scoop 6 cookies onto each baking sheet. The cookies are quite large so you could use a smaller scoop for 14 to 16 cookies. Carefully flatten the top of each cookie to about 2 1/2-inch diameter. Sprinkle with a little salt. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes until golden-brown. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets before removing to an air-tight jar. The cookies will keep for one week as long as they’re sealed. Makes 12
