A cowboy cookie, also called a ranger cookie, is a hearty drop cookie loaded with oats, nuts, and chocolate chips, denser and chewier than a standard chocolate chip cookie. It's associated with the American Southwest and West, where the combination of oats, fat, and sugar made a filling, portable snack for ranch hands and cowboys working long days outdoors.
The dough typically combines rolled oats, flour, brown sugar, butter, and eggs with mix-ins such as chopped pecans or walnuts, chocolate chips, raisins, or shredded coconut, then bakes into cookies that are crisp at the edges and chewy in the center.
Because they hold up well in transit, cowboy cookies are a common choice for lunchboxes, care packages, and trail mixes. Common variations add cinnamon or swap in molasses for some of the sugar.