These jumbo trail mix cookies are just right for summer hikes, picnics and road trips.
As soon as school was over the summer I was eight we moved into an old home in Rothesay. The property had an old fashioned garage and suspended from its rafters was an enormous birch bark canoe. The canoe was too long for the garage so the owners had cut a hole in the back wall to let a foot or two poke through. The canoe stayed with us for the summer because nestled into its curved belly was a mother raccoon and her brood. No one wanted to disrupt them so they were left until they moved out.
The end of school for the summer gets me thinking of a whole different kind of snack food, the kind of treats that are great to pack for a picnic or a hike.
Jumbo trail mix cookies are perfect for summer hikes, picnics and road trips. Making them with stone ground flour ads flavour and texture that is a good nutritional balance for the butter and sugar. For the trail mix called for in the recipe, make your own blend of nuts, seeds and dried fruit with whatever you have on hand.
Green tip: Choose an organic orange for the orange zest since the peel is likely to have more residual pesticides. As well, depending on where they’re grown some oranges are gassed or injected with dye to turn them orange. (Many oranges are naturally green when ripe.) If you can’t find organic oranges look for those grown in California.
Jumbo Trail Mix Cookies
Makes 18-20 cookies
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar + more for top
- 1/4 cup fancy molasses
- 1 large egg
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1 cup whole wheat or spelt flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup trail mix (sunflower seeds, slivered almonds, peanuts, raisins, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, coconut)
- 1/2 cup (heaping) white chocolate chips
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Cream butter and sugar until light then pour in molasses and mix.
- Add egg and orange zest and blend well.
- In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Stir into creamed mixture.
- Stir in trail mix and chocolate chips.
- Scoop heaping tablespoons of batter and roll into balls. Place 3″-4″ apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops with a little sugar and using the bottom of a glass press the cookie to flatten the top slightly.
- Bake about 12 min.
