ranger cookies served with a glass of cold milk

Ranger? Cowboy? Kitchen Sink? Neiman Marcus?

Ever heard of Ranger Cookies? There are so many versions out there, it’s hard to pick just one name—but I’m sticking with “Ranger” for this crunchy, chewy, totally irresistible cookie. This recipe is super versatile and makes a big batch, perfect for sharing (or not!). If you’re watching calories, you might want to look away—but hey, everything in moderation, right? Right!

Ranger Cookie Ingredients

1 c butter
4 c flour (plain)
1/2 c Crisco Shortening
1 T baking powder
1 1/2 c sugar
1 T baking soda
1 1/2 c brown sugar
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 c chocolate chips
1 T vanilla extract
1 c chopped pecans
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c chopped walnuts
3 c Rice Krispies
2 c flaked coconut
sea salt for sprinkling (optional)

Step 1

Preheat your oven to somewhere between 325° and 350°F—I found the cookies baked best right in that sweet spot in the middle. I also like to line my cookie sheets with parchment paper. Th

Brown the butter. I don’t do this often, but it really brings out a deeper, richer flavor—especially in a cookie like this. Just melt the butter in a saucepan over low to medium heat. It’ll start out yellow and bubbly, then foam as it cooks. Keep stirring and watch closely—you want it to brown, not burn! Once it turns a golden brown and smells nutty, take it off the heat and let it cool a bit before adding to the dough.

I used unsalted butter, but only because that’s what I had in the fridge. Honestly, salted or unsalted works just fine in this recipe—I can never really tell the difference once it’s all mixed up! Use whatever you have on hand.

brown butter by melting and cooking until amber colored, cool before adding to cookie batter

Step 2

Start by mixing the dry ingredients—flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon—in a separate bowl and set them aside.

Next, cream the sugars and Crisco together using a mixer. You can mix by hand if you need to, but a mixer definitely makes things quicker and easier.

cream sugars, crisco, eggs together then add browned butter that has cooled a bit

Add the eggs one at a time, along with the vanilla extract, and mix until combined. The mixture might feel a little stiff at this point—but don’t worry, it’ll loosen up once you stir in the browned butter. Keep mixing until everything is smooth and well blended.

Then, gradually add in the dry ingredients, a little at a time, mixing as you go.

mix dry ingredients of flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together, then add a little at a time to cookie batter

Step 3

Add the chocolate chips, nuts, and coconut. You will need to stir this by hand. Lastly, add the Rice Krispies. Stir as well as you can, but you might as well face it and get your hands in there)))

add nuts, chocolate chips, and coconut to the ranger cookie batter. add rice krispies last, stir by hand

Step 4

Shape the dough into balls about the size of small walnuts. Again, this makes a lot of cookies! My balls would tend to get larger toward the bottom of the bowl)))

Also, there is a lot of fat in this recipe so the chocolate chips tend to slip out of the balls sometimes. Just press them back in before you put them on the cookie sheet. The last few balls were mostly chocolate chips and nuts!

cookie batter ready to roll into balls and place on a parchment paper lined cookies sheet

I sprinkled a tiny bit of sea salt on the balls, but this is optional. You might want to try it on a pan and taste it before you do the whole batch.

cookie batter rolled into balls, baked, and placed on a cooling rack

Once the Ranger cookies have been baked, let them cool a bit in the pan before transferring them to a cooling rack. This will help hold them together better before moving them.

I hate for cookies to puff up in the center! If they are puffed a little bit when you remove them from the oven, just tap the pan on the countertop (heatproof) and they will settle down nicely.

They probably would have done this once they cooled, but I didn’t want to chance it. So all of my pans got a good couple of taps.

If you don’t have a cooling rack just use clean newspaper, paper towels, parchment paper, or waxed paper to transfer them to. I have one nice size cooling rack so I would let them cool there while the next pan baked, then move them over to newspaper until ready to put in a container.

stack of ranger or cowboy cookies ready to eat

Store in a tightly covered container. This recipe made about 72 cookies….told it you was a lot! So you’ll have cookies to eat, give away, and throw some if the freezer)))

Variations

Ranger cookies can be made with so many variations. The Rice Krispies add a little extra crunch, but you could use crushed cornflakes too. Some of the recipes for these cookies call for rolled oats. I’ve seen some that called for crushed pretzels too.

And as far as chips, you could use milk chocolate, dark, or white. I haven’t tried peanut butter chips….but that sounds interesting))) Toffee bits, potato chips, or dried cranberries are other options. I guess that’s where “everything but the kitchen sink” comes in.

closeup of the chewy goodness of ranger cookies chocked full of nuts, chocolate chips, coconut, and rice krispies

Do you prefer drop cookie recipes or rolled cookies? Drop cookies are usually less time-consuming for sure! Here’s my recipe for tea cakes that are rolled out. It’s a great recipe to make with kids. Even toddlers can manage a cookie-cutter)))

old family recipe

Old Fashioned Tea Cakes

What else is there to do on a cold, wintry Saturday afternoon but make some old-fashioned tea cakes))) It has been a while since I made them, but they call for pretty basic ingredients so I knew my pantry could handle it))

get the recipe

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