Trail Mix Cookie Recipe – Chocolate, Cranberries, etc.

Here is an easy trail mix cookie recipe. These delicious cookies are stuffed with ingredients such as M&Ms, cranberries and peanuts. Moreover, your family doesn’t have to be hikers to like these cookies… they just have to love trail mix. With this recipe, you will be creating your own homemade trail mix in order to produce some great tasting & unique looking cookies.

The best thing about these cookies (beyond the delicious taste) is that you can make a huge variety of different trail mix cookies. Each batch can be an unique combination of your favorite trail mix ingredients such as M&Ms, dried cranberries, chopped peanuts, raisins, sunflower seeds, chopped cashews, chocolate chips, etc. Your family will love this easy trail mix cookie recipe.

A Delicious Trail Mix Cookie

In case you didn’t know, trail mix cookies are another name for GORP cookies (GORP is a hiking term for “good old raisins & peanuts”). However, we think trail mix cookies are a better description because you can add many other favorite ingredients (i.e. M&Ms, sunflower seeds and dried cranberries) to these cookies… not just raisins & peanuts.

Key Ingredient – Homemade Trail Mix

If you liked this trail mix cookie recipe, we hope you will leave a comment below and give us a 5 star rating. You will also find a printable and “pin-able” cookie recipe located at the bottom of this page. For more great recipes (i.e. chocolate chip butterscotch cookies), please visit Bread Dad’s main Easy Cookie Recipes section.

Ingredients

• 16 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (softened) – 230 grams
• 2 Large Eggs
• 1 Teaspoon – Vanilla Extract – 5 milliliters
• 1 Cup – White Granulated Sugar – 200 grams
• 1/2 Cup – Light Brown Sugar (packed) – 107 grams
• 2 1/4 Cups – All Purpose Flour – 270 grams
• 1 Teaspoon – Baking Soda – 5 grams
• 1/2 Teaspoon – Salt – 3 grams
• 2/3 Cup – Dried Cranberries (or raisins, dried blueberries, etc.) – 75 grams
• 2/3 Cup – M&Ms – 115 grams
• 2/3 Cup – Chopped Peanuts (or chopped cashews, dehulled/no shell sunflower seeds, etc.) – 95 grams

Servings – Roughly 24-30 cookies (depends on the size of your cookies)

Equipment – Measuring cup & spoons, mixing bowl, electric mixer, cookie dough scoop, oven mitts, silicon spatula, baking sheets, cooling rack and an oven.

Trail Mix Cookies after Cooling

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Soften butter in the microwave.
• Mix eggs, butter, vanilla extract, granulated white sugar and light brown sugar in a large bowl. Use an electric mixer to mix these ingredients together. Mix until creamy.
• Then stir in the flour, baking soda and salt. Use an electric mixer to mix all of the ingredients together. Mix until ingredients are completely blended and cookie dough looks creamy. FYI – Read the tips section below to find out why using an electric mixer results in a much better cookie than mixing by hand (when using vegetable oil). However, don’t overmix. Only mix the dough for 1-2 minutes with an electric mixer.
• Mix the trail mix ingredients (i.e. M&Ms, dried cranberries & peanuts) together in a bowl.
• Stir the trail mix into the cookie dough. Use a large spoon (not an electric mixer) to stir in the trail mix ingredients. Stir until the trail mix is mixed evenly throughout the dough. Optional – Save 1/4-1/3 of the trail mix to place on top of the cookie dough “patties” before baking. See steps below.
• Optional (but recommended) – Chill the dough in a covered bowl in your refrigerator for 30-60 minutes. This helps to prevent the cookie dough from spreading in the oven and reduces the potential for overly thin/flat cookies.
• Scoop the dough with a tablespoon or cookie dough scoop and place this dough “ball” onto a non-stick baking sheet. You will need at least 2 baking sheets in order to bake all of the cookies at the same time (if they can fit in your oven) or you will need to bake each batch separately (one after the other).
• Leave space of roughly 2-3 inches between each dough ball because the cookies will spread as they bake.
• Optional – Gently press some of the trail mix into the tops of each cookie dough patty (in order to create a more attractive cookie top).
• Place baking trays into the oven. Wear oven mitts.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
• Remove baking sheet/tray from the oven. Wear oven mitts. Leave cookies on baking sheet to cool for 2-3 minutes. Otherwise, cookies might break when removed from the baking sheet.
• Use a spatula to remove the trail mix cookies and place the cookies on wire cooling racks in order to cool completely.
• Please read the tips section below for extra information on how to make this trail mix cookie recipe successfully & to avoid common cookie problems.

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give us a 5 star rating. We LOVE to hear from people who have enjoyed our recipes!!! Jump to comment section

Other Bread Dad Sections

• Baking Tools – Baking sheets, etc.
• Bread Machines – My favorites
• Bread Making Books
• Bread & Dessert Mixes
• Books, Classes, Ingredients, etc.

Before Baking – Add More Trail Mix On Top of the Cookie Dough “Patties”

Helpful Tips

• The tips below are designed to help cookie “novices” and/or people with limited baking experience. Please read these tips to ensure that your cookies come out correctly.
• Click on our “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include our tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• Visitors – What are your favorite trail mix cookie recipe ingredients? How have you made your trail mix cookies even better? Hopefully, you will share your trail mix cookie variations. Please post your tips & ideas in the comment section located at the bottom of the page.

• According to Wikipedia, trail mix “is a type of snack mix, typically a combination of granola, dried fruit, nuts, and sometimes candy, developed as a food to be taken along on hikes. Trail mix is considered an ideal snack food for hikes, because it is lightweight, easy to store, and nutritious, providing a quick energy boost from the carbohydrates in the dried fruit or granola, and sustained energy from fats in nuts”. In addition, “The American word gorp, a term for trail mix often used by hikers in North America, is typically said to be an acronym for ‘good ol’ raisins and peanuts’, although the mix may contain M&M’s and other nuts.”
• Optional – I like to mix 2/3 of the trail mix into the dough and use the remaining 1/3 to place on top of the cookie dough “patties” (just before baking). This creates a more attractive cookie top. However, please feel free to mix all of the trail mix into the dough if you are looking for less work when making your cookies!
• This recipe allows you to combine your favorite trail mix ingredients. You don’t have to use M&Ms, dried cranberries or peanuts when making these cookies. Just replace any or all of the trail mix ingredients with your family’s favorite ingredients. Of course, you can also substitute any of the trail mix ingredients based on potential dietary & allergic restrictions.

• Other potential trail mix ingredient “candidates” for this cookie recipe include chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, chopped cashews, dried cherries, dried blueberries, granola, dehulled (no shell) sunflower seeds, chopped almonds, dried banana chips, etc. Or use your favorite commercial trail mix to try & make these hiking cookies.
• If you use nuts (i.e. peanuts or walnuts) to make this recipe, please use chopped nuts. Whole nuts can be too large and may be a potential choking issue.
• I would not use a trail mix ingredient such as crunchy cereal when making these hiking cookies. This type of ingredient is more likely to soften (or turn mushy) due to the oils contained in the butter and it would not have its usual satisfying crunch.
• If you don’t like peanuts or have a family member or guests who can’t eat peanuts, you should eliminate peanuts from the recipe and consider using a non-nut substitute such as dehulled (no shell) sunflower seeds (if you want something crunchy) or dried fruit.
• However, always be careful in regards to potential allergens. Check with a doctor and your cookie “consumers” for potential food allergies before serving any food.
• If you liked this homemade trail mix cookie recipe, you might also like to try our Sunflower Seed Cookies recipe. They are made with sunflower seeds, M&Ms, etc.

• These cookies come out much better if you mix the ingredients with an electric mixer for 1-2 minutes. The cookie dough comes out “creamier”. However, don’t overmix (don’t mix for more than 1-2 minutes) because this could result in problems such as cookies spreading too thin during baking.
• Completely mix the eggs, butter and sugar together with an electric mixer BEFORE adding the flour. This will result in much better cookies. See the inadequately blended problems in the line below.
• Mixing only by hand can lead to the cookie dough being inadequately blended. This can result in your cookies having unwanted “clumps” of ingredients (i.e. small flour clumps) and/or a gritty texture (inadequately blended sugar grains). Use an electric mixer for only 1-2 minutes for the best results.
• However, do not use the electric mixer on the trail mix ingredients… as this will just grind & chop them into tiny bits! Hand stir the trail mix ingredients into the cookie dough with a large spoon.
• Use FRESH ingredients (i.e. baking soda and flour) for the best results with this easy trail mix cookie recipe. For example, if you use stale baking soda, your cookies will not rise properly. The cookies will be flat and dense. Baking soda & powder is best if used within 6 months of opening the container.
• Do NOT substantially reduce the sugar in this recipe. For the best results, always use the ingredient amounts called for by a recipe. Reducing sugar can affect a cookie’s texture and taste. If you make a significant reduction to the sugar quantity then you will get much drier & blander cookies. Sugar helps to retain moisture. For more on this issue, you might like to read this King Arthur Baking article.

• Tips to prevent “spreading” (i.e. overly thin cookies) – Chill the dough, don’t squish the dough flat (higher dough results in higher cookies), use fresh baking soda (cookies made with stale baking soda don’t rise properly), measure the recipe ingredients exactly!! (too much oil results in “runny” dough and flatter cookies), always use cool or room temperature baking sheets (don’t reuse a hot baking sheet to make another batch… i.e. the hot baking sheet that was used to bake your first batch of cookies), don’t overmix the dough (only use an electric mixer for 1-2 minutes), make sure to use the correct oven temperature (follow the recipe’s instructions because ovens that are too hot will cause cookies to “melt” too quickly and thus they will spread more than expected), etc.
• FYI – Some bakers like to chill the cookie dough patties in their refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before baking in order to prevent flat/thin cookies. Colder dough results in less spreading.
• Also chilling the dough makes the dough easier to shape. Less sticky/runny. This helps you to shape the cookie dough with less stuff sticking to you!

• DON’T OVERBAKE!!! Overbaked cookies come out hard & dry. Don’t leave the cookies in the oven longer than recommended & don’t use a higher than recommended baking temperature.
• You can make the cookie dough balls (drops, spoonfuls, etc.) with 2 tablespoons, a cookie dough scoop or your hands. Some people also like to wear food grade plastic gloves when making cookie dough balls/drops.
• Use of a cookie dough scoop will give you more consistently shaped cookies versus varying sizes from using a less “exact” methods such as using a tablespoon or your hands.
• For “rounder” cookies (with no edges sticking out), you can use a cookie dough scoop or mold the cookie dough by hand into round balls and then press down on the dough ball until it turns into a pancake shape.

• Place the baking tray on the oven’s middle rack for best results. If the baking tray is placed too high or too low in the oven, the baking tray may be too close to the heating element.
• If you have a problem with a cookie recipe, please make sure that you are following the recipe exactly (i.e. using the correct oven temperature), using the correct amounts of ingredients (i.e. don’t eyeball the measurements versus using a measuring cup or accidentally add a tablespoon when a teaspoon is called for), using the correct ingredients (i.e. baking soda/powder versus yeast or all purpose flour versus bread flour), etc. Please don’t “wing” things with recipes.
• Consider using an oven thermometer as your expected oven temperature may be different than reality. Some ovens can be 25-50+ degrees F hotter or colder than the number you set with your oven dial. Oven temperature problems can throw off many recipes (i.e. lead to over or undercooked baked goods). An oven thermometer (which usually costs less than $10) is an easy way to measure the actual temperature inside your oven.
• If you liked these trail mix cookies because they had chocolate & cranberries in the cookies, you might also like to try Bread Dad’s recipe for Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies.

• Be aware that some people are allergic to peanuts & tree nuts.
• Since this recipe contains peanuts, please make sure that anyone eating these cookies does not have a peanut/tree nut allergy. Or if you want to be even more cautious, you should consider not using peanuts & tree nuts in order to make this recipe.
• My recipes are based on US ingredient measurements (i.e. US cups & tablespoons). However, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (i.e. grams & milliliters). Since I rarely use European measurements when baking, please let me know in the comment section below if any of the European ingredient measurements need to be changed (i.e. for XYZ ingredient, milliliters are more commonly used versus the grams information listed in the recipe).
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with hot ovens, baking trays, etc.
• Be safe! Food that contains candy and/or nuts is a potential choking hazard for very young children.
• Please visit Bread Dad’s section on Easy Cookie Recipes if you are looking for more simple & delicious homemade cookie ideas.

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give us a 5 star rating. It is ALWAYS great to hear from people who have enjoyed our recipes!!! Jump to comment section

Reference Sources

• Wikipedia, Cookie
• Wikipedia, Dried Fruit
• Wikipedia, Trail Mix

Your fantastic comments motivate us to write more easy & delicious recipes. Also beginning bakers learn a ton from your helpful suggestions, tips and amazing recipe variations. Thank you!

Related Recipes

• Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies
• M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies
• No Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
• No Butter Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips & Cranberries
• No Egg Chocolate Chip Cookies

Please leave a comment & recipe rating in the comment box below. Thanks!