Cowboy Cookies

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 egg
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips or chopped semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup broken-up pretzels*

Note: to break up the pretzels, but a handful in a sealed plastic bag. Use your hand or a heavy kitchen utensil (like a potato masher) to make chocolate chip-sized pieces. Don’t pulverize them. Measure after you break them up, and then add more if necessary.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer if you have one (otherwise, use a large bowl and a handheld mixer, or your really strong arm), cream the butter and brown sugar until blended and creamy. Add the vanilla, the espresso powder, and the egg and beat until light and fluffy. Stir in the oats, flour, baking soda and salt, mixing just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Then add the chocolate chips and the pretzel and stir to distribute.

Make balls the size of golf balls and place them at least 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.

Bake for about 9 minutes, just until the tops of the cookies are firm. Let cool 2-3 minutes on the cookie sheets, then slide the parchment straight onto the counter or a wire rack and cool completely.

(Picture taken before I knew it would be immortalized on the internet. I will try to take prettier pictures of the food in the future)

Notes:
I really liked these cookies and they were fairly easy to make. I used pretzel nubs because those are my favorite way to eat pretzels but weren't the best shape for the cookie.