This quick and delicious chocolate and oatmeal bar cookie is known as Cowboy Cookie Bars. My husband grew up with these and our family now enjoys them regularly!
Cowboy Cookie Bars Recipe
My husband grew up in a big family and his mom often made this bar cookie recipe. After he made it for our family I can see why – these are the best bar cookies I’ve eaten! He doubled the amount of chocolate that his mom had listed, which probably didn’t hurt the taste one bit!
Through experimenting with the recipe, we definitely learned that a 15″ pan is key to success! We have a 15″ jelly roll pan like this that works perfectly. We also love to serve along with these easy 4 Ingredient Cake Mix Cookie Bars in a 9 x 13″ pan.
I wondered why these are called Cowboy Cookies. Then I thought about the corny cowboy movies my dad watches where the cowboy with the quickest draw won. Well, this is one of the quickest batches of cookies I’ve ever made.
This easy Cowboy Bar Cookie recipe makes a lot of chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies in a hurry and they taste amazing! For individual cookies try my mom’s Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies or our Chocolate Chip Treasure Cookies.
My husband’s family legend is that cowboys didn’t have time to make individual cookies so they always make bar cookies.
This big batch would also feed a big group of cowboys or farmers in a hurry!
Ingredients Needed
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Butter
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Oats – quick, rolled or old-fashioned Quaker oats work fine, but we typically use quick oats
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
How to Make Cowboy Cookie Bars
Preheat oven to 350°F and lightly coat a 15″ jelly roll pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Add softened butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar to a medium mixing bowl.
Mix together.
In a small mixing bowl use a fork or sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Stir together, but don’t over mix.
Then add oats and stir gently.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Press into a 15″ jelly roll pan with your fingers. Make the layer as even as possible.
Bake for 10 – 15 minutes until the cookies lightly begin to brown.
The cookies are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Make sure butter is softened and at room temperature so that it mixes well
- The recipe calls for 1/2 bag of chocolate chips, but we typically use a full bag
- Make sure and use the correct size pan
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the cookies comes out clean
More Family Favorite Cookie Recipes
- Magic Cookie Bars
- Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
- Farmhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Old Fashioned Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Applesauce Raisin Cookies
- Fluffy Snickerdoodles
We hope you enjoy all of these cookie recipes as much as we do!
Easy Cowboy Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup butter softened
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 6 – 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 15" jelly roll pan. Cream sugars and butter. Add egg and vanilla.
- Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Slowly add to other ingredients and mix well.
- Add oats and mix.
- Fold in chocolate chips. We use a full bag, but 1/2 a bag would still taste great. Spread in jelly roll pan and bake for 10 – 15 minutes until lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean.
Notes
- Make sure butter is softened and at room temperature so that it mixes well
- The recipe calls for 1/2 bag of chocolate chips, but we typically use a full bag
- Make sure and use the correct size baking pan
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the cookies comes out clean
Equipment
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Nutrition
Originally shared October 12, 2018 with updates made on November 7, 2023.
Quick and tasty treat for the family!
I love Cowboy Cookies (an Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie) but I’ve never had them as a bar. I’ll have to try your recipe!
The quickest way to enjoy them! Thanks for stopping by & please let us know what you think 🙂
Is it just me or what?. I had to call in for a jack hammer to be able to mix this and « spread ». I was lucky they were rolling asphalt on my street so they helped me with the spreading…. ouffff . In the oven now…. will see…. The mixture is SO DRY… is it normal????
We were so concerned by your experience we immediately made another batch. We use softened butter, cold butter might affect the moisture, but ours turned out great. This is truly a family favorite! I hope you were able to enjoy your cookies!
I lined my pan with parchment paper (easy clean up). I opted for the smaller quantity of chips and now I’ll be having guilt free cookies for breakfast! Bake time for me was 20 minutes. I’ll definitely be making these again and I’m already thinking about add-ins: cinnamon, coconut, nuts, wheat germ, maybe craisins…. My husband gave them a thumbs up@
So glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for sharing how you’ll change up the recipe in the future!
Waiting for hurricane Dorian to turn and needed to keep busy. I reduced the flour to 1 1/2 cups and added 1/2 cup flaked coconut, 1/4 cup pecan pieces, 1/4 cup craisins, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. I made the mistake of breaking off a piece while still warm. Delicious!!!
If you use mini chips you get better bang for your buck for the spread of the chocolate thru out the bars
Love this idea! Thanks for sharing!
I can’t wait to try these, but am wondering what kind of oats to use….minute or old fashioned? Thank you so much!
Great question! Quick oats work best. The key to making these cookies is – do not overbake. Hope you enjoy 🙂
I only had a big cookie sheet so it took 20 minutes. I did add Walnuts to this recipe. They are delicious and taste just like our family favorite cowboy cookie recipe. I definitely will make this again.