Sweet-and-Salty Trail Mix Cookies

 

I’ve long been a sucker for Walmart’s appropriately-named “Indulgent” trail mix loaded with chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut-butter chips, golden raisins, dried cranberries, salted almonds, cashews, and peanuts.

 Yesterday out of the blue I realized it would be even more delicious as a cookie, using basic chocolate-chip cookie batter. I resisted the diet-downfall yesterday, but caved today because it was a Snow Day…and you know the tradition, right?

Snow = Cookies.

They turned out amazing and could alternatively be named “Indulgent Trail Mix Cookies”. Usually I make “small” cookies so you can eat more of them (ha, ha) but these must be large so each cookie will contain most trail mix components.

 

Bear in mind I'm at sea-level. If you live at high altitude, do your usual adjustments to flour etc.

Ingredients:

1 c. salted butter

Almost 1 c. brown sugar, packed

Almost 1 c. white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla 

2 ¼ c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

3 c. sweet/salty trail mix

(example: ¾ of 26 oz. "Great Value" Indulgent Trail Mix)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 ° F.

2. Prepare batter:

          Cream butter and sugars.

          Add egg and vanilla. Stir.

          Add salt, baking soda, and 1 c. flour. Mix.

          Add rest of flour. Mix.

          Add 3 c. sweet/salty trail mix.

 3.  Form dough balls (1 Tbsp.) on cookie sheet. (To get the right texture, I always use insulated cookie sheets like “Airbake”.)

4. Bake 10-13 minutes.

5. Let cookies cool on sheet for a couple minutes then remove to wire rack to finish cooling and solidifying.

 

*Disclaimer: My husband always says Walmart should be paying me for all the advertising I do for them, but they are not J

 

*Nutrition Facts:

Item	Calories	Fat (g)	Sodium  (% RDA)	Protein (g)	Carbs (g)	Fiber (g)	Calcium (% RDA)
1 c. salted butter	1600	176	64	0	0	20	0
11/12 c. light brown sugar	660	0	0	0	176	0	0
11/12 c. sugar	660	0	0	0	176	0	0
1 large egg	70	5	2	6	0	0	2
2 ¼ c. flour	990	0	0	27	207	4.5	0
1 tsp. baking soda	0	0	48	0	0	0	0
½ tsp. salt	0	0	50	0	0	0	0
3 c. “Indulgent” Trail Mix	2400	128	16	48	256	48	32
Total (50 cookies):	6380 kcal	309 g	180 %	81 g	815 g	52.5 g	34 %
1 cookie:	128 kcal	6 g	3.5 %	1.5 g	16 g	1 g	0.5 %

 

*Calculated from food packaging.

I used “Great Value” (Walmart) brand salted sweet cream butter, iodized salt, and “Indulgent” Trail Mix, “Domino” brand brown and white sugar, “My Essentials” brand egg, and “Bakers and Chefs (Sams Club) brand all-purpose flour.

Mint Brownies

 

Back in 1996, at least 10 lb. of my “Freshman 20” could directly be attributed to BYU Mint Brownies. I ate them at the cafeteria, I ate them at the creamery. I ate them with ice cream or without ice cream.  (Yeah, today my 5-year-old was reading Green Eggs & Ham aloud on the way to school…)

Anyway, my mother-in-law (who lives within 15 minutes of BYU) shared a recipe from her neighbor Klissa. She makes a thin brownie sheet cake, and tops them with the iconic minty green buttercream frosting and melted chocolate.

I prefer chewy brownies to sheet cake brownies, so for mint brownies I use a normal brownie mix (my fave: Betty Crocker Hershey Ultimate Chocolate Brownie Mix—contains 2 shapes of chocolate chips!!). This post was not sponsored by Betty Crocker or Hershey J

Mint Brownies are my oldest son’s favorite dessert. Some years, he’s had mint brownies in lieu of birthday cake!!! Today, I made them at his request on our turn to supply treats for Cub Scout pack meeting. Tonight I overheard a leader say, “I think these are the best refreshments we’ve ever had at scouts!”

My ingredients

Brownie Layer:

20 oz. brownie mix prepared according to package instructions (oil, eggs, water, etc.)

 Spread in 9 x 13” pan. Usually brownie mixes are designed for 8 x 8” pans, so it will not need to bake as long as the instructions tell you. For instance, a brownie mix that usually bakes 45 minutes might need only 30 minutes.

Mint Frosting:

3 Tbsp. margarine, room temperature

1 ¾ c. confectioner’s sugar

1/8 tsp. mint or peppermint flavor

2-3 drops green food coloring

1-2 Tbsp. water

 

Mint Frosting Directions:

1. Combine ingredients in bowl and mix with electric mixer.

2. Spread on brownies—will be a thin layer of frosting.

3. Put in freezer 15 minutes.

 

Chocolate Topping:

1 c. chocolate chips

4 Tbsp. margarine

 

Chocolate Topping Directions:

1. Combine ingredients in bowl.

2. Microwave 30 seconds and stir. Microwave at 15-second intervals until melted.

3. Spread on brownies.

4. Put in freezer 15 minutes.

 

 

 

*Nutrition Facts:

Item	Calories	Fat (g)	Sodium  (% RDA)	Carbs (g)	Fiber (g)	Protein (g)	Calcium (% RDA)
20 oz. brownie mix, prepared	3400	160	80	460	10	20	0
7 Tbsp. margarine	490	56	35	0	0	0	0
1 ¾ c. confectioner’s sugar	840	0	0	210	0	0	0
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips	840	48	0	108	0	6	0
Total (32 brownies):	5570 kcal	48 g	115 %	778 g	10 g	26 g	0 %
1 brownie:	174 kcal	1.5 g	3.5 %	24 g	0.5 g	1 g	0 %

 

*Calculated from food packaging.

I used “Betty Crocker” brand “Hershey Ultimate Chocolate” brownie mix, “Great Value” (Walmart) brand confectioner’s sugar, “Blue Bonnet” brand margarine, and “Nestle” brand semi-sweet chocolate chips.