Trail Mix Cookies

These trail mix cookies are soft, chewy and loaded with oats, peanut butter, chocolate chips and trail mix! The ultimate sweet and salty snack cookie.

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Ingredients

• Oats: These will be divided. Some will be ground up to use as flour and the rest will be kept as coarse oats for texture. I used old fashioned oats, but instant oats can be used, the texture will change slightly.
• Unsalted butter: Here are tips on how to soften butter quickly if you’ve forgotten to take it out of the fridge. Softened butter helps keep the cookies nice and soft. 
• Light brown sugar, packed: Adds moisture and sweetness and that brown sugary flavor that pairs so well with butter and oats. 
• Baking staples: Granulated sugar, large eggs, vanilla extract, baking soda, fine sea salt
• Creamy peanut butter: I recommend skipping the natural peanut butter this time around. It doesn’t keep the structure as well as we need it to.
• Roughly chopped trail mix: For the cookie dough and to place on top too. All the salty crunchy goodness comes from whatever your mix consists of. If you don’t have any pre-made, use nuts, M&M’s, and raisins instead. 
• Semisweet chocolate chips: These happen to be my favorite type of chocolate chips to use, but you go right ahead and use what you like. Dark chocolate, white chocolate, or even cacao nibs.

How to Make Trail Mix Cookies

In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, or an electric mixer, blend the butter and sugars until the mixture is creamy and pale. Beat in one egg at a time, followed by the peanut butter and vanilla until well combined.

Stir in the ground oats, whole oats, baking soda, and salt. Use a spatula to fold in the nuts, M&M’s, and chocolate chips, making sure they’re evenly dispersed throughout the cookie dough.

Using a large cookie scoop, scoop out the dough onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Do this with the remaining dough placing the balls 2 inches apart. Flatten them all slightly using the palm of your hand.

This middle will still look slightly soft, but that’s ok they will set as they cool. If they’re not soft, they won’t be as chewy when they’re done. Cool for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack.

Tips & Variations

• Make ahead and freeze the dough. If you’re not quite ready to bake them yet, freeze the cookie dough balls and bake when ready to enjoy.
• Use a cookie scoop. It’s always important to measure our cookie dough so that each cookie is the same size and the same weight. This makes baking them even much easier!
• Do not melt the butter. It should be softened to just room temperature. Melted butter will cause the cookies to spread making them flatter and crispier. 
• For slightly thinner cookies, gently press down the balls with your hands. 
• Add extra chopped trail mix on top of the cookies so that they stick out and are visually appealing.
• The cookies will be soft when they’re done. Allowing them time to set first on the tray before moving them to the rack will keep them from falling apart when you try to lift them. 

What Trail Mix To Use

As you can imagine it is totally flexible! There are endless combinations and add-ins you can use to make a sweet and salty of your own. I use cashews, peanuts, almonds, raisins, and M&M’s in mine, but you can also add:

• Cranberries
• Pecan
• Pumpkin seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Sesame seeds
• Hazelnuts
• Walnuts
• Marshmallows
• Pretzels

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