Trail Mix Cookies

Trail Mix Cookies are a fun and unique twist on Oatmeal Cookies — add a generous scoop of your favorite trail mix to the batter and be prepared to have a new favorite cookie recipe!

Trail Mix Cookies

A good trail mix is one of my all-time favorite snacks. You’d be hard pressed to ever find my pantry not stocked with some variety of trail mix! So when I was out of chocolate chips and had a serious craving for a good Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie, I replaced the chips with trail mix. This happy accident has turned into a new favorite dessert — yum!

These easy Trail Mix Cookies are fully loaded — they’ve got bits of chocolate chips, nuts, or dried fruit in literally every bite. And one of the fun things about this cookie recipe — you can use whatever trail mix you like best!

Let’s Chat Trail Mix

I’ve already mentioned my affinity for trail mix — I think I’ve tried every variety to ever hit my local grocery store shelves! Since it’s more economical, I usually make my own, which you can definitely do for this recipe. Of course, nothing compares to homemade — you can use better quality baking chips and your preferred dry-roasted nuts.

We’ve tested these cookies with a few different varieties of trail mix, but the store-bought (or our homemade version) of “Indulgent Trail Mix” was hands down the favorite with “Mountain Trail Mix” in second place.

Read on for more about this specific mix!

Homemade Indulgent Trail Mix Recipe

There are dozens of trail mix varieties. My favorite, Indulgent Trail Mix, combines milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter baking chips, dried cranberries, peanuts, and cashews. Sometimes golden raisins are thrown into the blend. This mix is meant to be more of a treat so it’s perfect in these cookies. If you aren’t able to locate this mix, here’s how to make your own:

Combine the following ingredients in a small bowl and stir. Measure out 1-1/2 cups for this cookie recipe:

• White chocolate chips — 1/3 cup (55g)
• Milk chocolate chips — 1/3 cup (55g)
• Peanut butter baking chips — 1/3 cup (55g) 
• Dried sweetened cranberries — 1/2 cup (62g)
• Dry-roasted and lightly salted cashews — 1 cup (126g)
• Dry-roasted and lightly salted peanuts  — 1/2 cup (70g)

Tips for Trail Mix Cookies

• Precise measuring: Too much flour will give you dense, cake-like cookies. Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it off with the flat edge of a table knife.
• Slightly underbake: This ensures the soft and chewy texture we all love! Overbaked cookies lose their delicious chewy texture and become less flavorful.
• Bake on a Silpat® liner: I’ve tested these cookies on parchment paper and with a Silpat silicone liner, and prefer the cookies baked on the liner. The bottoms always end up the best! If you don’t have a liner, parchment paper is still better than nothing.
• Make ’em pretty: I like to press a few additional baking chips or nuts from the trail mix package on top of the cookies right out of the oven. While this is (of course) completely optional, it makes the cookies beautiful AND ensures you’re getting trail mix in every single bite! 
• Use old-fashioned oats: It’s important to use old-fashioned instead of quick or steel-cut oats — each type of oat reacts differently in baked recipes.
• Grab sweetened coconut flakes: You don’t want desiccated coconut or unsweetened coconut. Sweetened coconut adds an additional layer of sweetness to these Trail Mix Cookies — we like ’em sweet!
• See if your baking agents are fresh by using this quick test!

Trail Mix Cookie Recipe Variations

• Peanut butter trail mix cookies: Use a chocolate and peanut butter trail mix instead! Or make these delicious Peanut Butter Cookies and add in 1-3/4 cups trail mix (reduce the flour by 1/3 cup).
• Trail mix cookie bars: Make these Cookie Bars and replace the chocolate chips with trail mix.
• Monster trail mix cookies: Try out these Monster Cookies and replace the M&M’s with trail mix. Also, for trail mix cookies that are gluten-free, use the monster cookie recipe instead (with certified GF oats!).
• Oatmeal trail mix cookies: Not sure about the coconut in these? Try out these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cCookies instead, replacing chocolate chips for trail mix.

More cookie recipes

• Bakery-Style Chocolate Cookies with milk chocolate chips
• Maple Cookies with a maple glaze
• Funfetti Cookies with sprinkles
• Crumbl® Oreo Cookies with cream cheese frosting
• Fudge Brownie Cookies using a brownie mix

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5 from 3 votes

Trail Mix Cookies

By Chelsea Lords

Trail Mix Cookies are a fun spin on classic oatmeal cookies—just toss in your favorite trail mix for a sweet, salty, and chewy treat that’ll quickly become a favorite!

Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Chilling Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 35 minutes minutes

Servings: 24 cookies

Equipment

• stand mixer or hand mixer
• 2 sheet pans
• 2 silicone baking mats or parchment paper
• Cooling Rack

Ingredients 

USMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 8 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
• ▢ 1 cup dark brown sugar or light brown sugar, see note 1
• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda see note 2
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon optional
• ▢ 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats see note 3
• ▢ 1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes not desiccated coconut
• ▢ 1 cup trail mix see note 4

Instructions 

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or use a large bowl and a hand mixer), add room temperature butter (not melted, not softened) and brown sugar. Beat at medium speed until light in color, about 1–2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 more minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Add baking soda and salt. Mix until just combined, about 20 seconds. Add oats, flour, and coconut. Mix until just combined, about 30 seconds.
• Add trail mix and mix until ingredients are just combined. Do not overmix or overbeat. Overworking the dough will result in dense cookies. Cover the bowl of dough tightly and chill for 30 minutes.
• Shape cookie dough into balls—a packed 2 tablespoons in size (if you have a food scale, it’s 40 grams). Roll the balls taller rather than wider (see picture). Place them on a plate lined with parchment paper and cover gently with plastic wrap. Refrigerate another 30–45 minutes. Don’t refrigerate too long. If you’re in a rush, freeze dough balls for about 20–25 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 325°F. Line 2 sheet pans with silicone liners (very important that the trays are lined so the cookies don’t burn on the bottom). Place 6 dough balls per pan (they can spread a good deal!), spacing them with plenty of room. Bake 9–14 minutes (mine take around 11–12 minutes), noting they’re best slightly underbaked. They should look ever-so-slightly gooey in the center (they harden a bit as they cool) and should be lightly browned around the edges. Remove from oven (see note 5 for troubleshooting), and if they’re too puffy, bang the sheet pan a few times on the counter to get them to flatten more.
• Right out of the oven you can press a few more chocolate chips or pieces of trail mix in the tops of the cookies if desired. Let stand on the cookie sheet 5–10 minutes to firm up enough to remove to a wire cooling rack.
• Let cookies fully cool and set up before eating; they firm up a lot as they cool! Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Cookies are best when eaten within 2–3 days.

Video

Recipe Notes

Note 1: I like dark brown sugar best, but light brown works too. Make sure the sugar is very fresh and very soft! Hard brown sugar won’t cream properly.

 Note 2: See if the baking soda is fresh by using this quick test! If baking soda is at all clumpy, press through a mesh sieve first.

Note 3: Quick or steel-cut oats won’t work. Only old-fashioned for this recipe!

Note 4: I've tested these trail mix cookies with a few different varieties of trail mix. “Indulgent Trail Mix” was hands down the favorite with “Mountain Trail Mix” in second place. Feel free to pick out the raisins before measuring out 1 cup if you don’t want them in the cookies! If the candy pieces are too large, pick those out as well.

Note 5: Trouble-shooting: If the cookies aren’t spreading at all, it’s likely there was too much flour, or the dough was overchilled. Remove from oven and press down the tops of the cookies with the back of a metal spatula, then return to the oven for 1–3 minutes or until cooked through. If cookies are spreading too much, there was likely too little flour, old baking agents, or dough was not properly chilled. Right out of the oven and working quickly, press the edges inwards with a metal spatula.

Storage: Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. To freeze dough, place shaped dough balls on a baking sheet, then transfer to bags or containers. No need to thaw before baking; just add a few minutes to baking time. To freeze baked cookies, freeze on a sheet pan, then transfer to bags or containers with parchment paper between layers. Expect slight texture change.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 172kcal | Carbohydrates: 18.2g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 10.5g | Cholesterol: 17.9mg | Sodium: 5.3mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 9.6g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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