These fruit and nut cookies are chewy cookies that are loaded with oatmeal, dried fruit, and mixed nuts. They are easy to make and so addictive.
These cookies are basically decadent chewy trail mix cookies. They are buttery, hearty, and addictive. They are seriously one of my favorite cookies to make (and eat!) I love making these cookies in the Fall and Winter but you can make them anytime.
The inspiration for these delicious fruit and nut cookies comes from a French restaurant I used to visit often for their small bites with coffee and tea service.
They served these amazing fruit and nut cookies that I am sure had at least triple the butter of this recipe but it was loaded with nuts and dried fruit which is healthy and full of nutrients and made me feel so much better about the decadence of the cookie 🙂
These Fall and Winter cookies are just as delicious as that restaurant's but I am sure with much less butter. These cookies are still made with brown sugar, butter and flour but they also have loads of healthy stuff like ground oats, coconut, nuts and dried fruit.
For special occasions like the holidays, I love to make a batch of these for breakfast. I am not going to lie and say these are good for you but they probably have no more sugar than a muffin or donut 🙂
While I love making my ricotta pancakes, brioche French toast or baked eggs for the holidays, for an indulgent breakfast or treat that I can can make ahead of time or eat on the go, I turn to these cookies!
Ingredients needed
These fruit and nut cookies are going to be chewy and lofty thanks to the brown sugar in them and all of the add ins. Here is what you will need:
- Unsalted butter
- All purpose flour
- Mixed nuts (hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, pecans). I love using pecans and walnuts together.
- Old fashioned oats
- Light brown sugar. The brown sugar helps make these cookies chewy.
- Dried cranberries, You can use raisins or any other dried fruit that you prefer.
- Unsweetened shredded coconut
- Vanilla extract
- Baking soda
- Egg
- Kosher salt
How to make fruit and nut cookies (chewy trail mix cookies)
- Cream: The first things you want to do is cream together the butter and brown sugar.
- Mix: Now mix together all of your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda and salt).
- Stir: Now stir together the butter and flour mixtures and then stir in the dried fruit, oats, coconut and nuts. This dough is really thick!
- Scoop: Scoop the cookie dough on to a lined sheet pan. Give the cookies just a little space to spread.
- Bake: Now bake for about 10 minutes in a 375 degree oven. They will need about 10 minutes to rest when they are done baking.
Variations for these chewy fruit and nut cookies
When I can, I like to sometimes add pumpkin to this fruit and nut cookie recipe for a nice Fall theme. It also really helps with boosting the nutrition a bit. The flavors of this cookie are like you are eating decadent chewy trail mix cookies and pumpkin goes so well with that.
If you would like to make these into pumpkin fruit and nut cookies, just add ½ cup of pumpkin and one extra egg to the recipe. The rest of the recipe stays the same.
Substitutions
For these oatmeal cookies with dried fruit and nuts, you can substitute your favorite sweeteners if you do not want to use brown sugar and make this cookie your own creation. I usually use almonds, walnuts or pecans in my recipe but I just threw this together with what I had on hand that day.
How to toast nuts on the stove
When you are working with nuts in baking recipes, you want to make sure to take a couple minutes to toast them up to bring out the natural flavor in the nuts. It also helps to get rid of the raw flavor that un-toasted nuts have.
To toast the nuts for this recipe (or any recipe) on the stovetop, I add the nuts to a small saucepan over medium heat and heat them for a few minutes. You want to make sure that you are turning them frequently until they just start to turn lightly brown and release a nice nutty smell.
More like this
If you love these chewy fruit and nut cookies, you may also like these:
For more delicious recipes:
- Pumpkin Cake
- Sheet Pan Gnocchi with Pumpkin
- Pumpkin Rice Krispie Treats
- Pumpkin Creme Brûlée
- Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
Fruit and Nut Cookies
Tried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!
Ingredients
- 1 cup Unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2 ¼ cup All purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup of mixed and toasted nuts (hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, pecans) Use as much variety as possible! You can use slivered or chopped nuts.
- 1 cup of old fashioned oats
- ¾ cup of light brown sugar packed
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup of unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease baking sheet.
- In a large bowl, cream your sugar and butter until light.1 cup Unsalted butter, ¾ cup of light brown sugar packed
- Add your egg and mix that in well.1 large egg
- Next add your vanilla and mix until incorporated.1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl, sift together your flour, baking soda and salt.2 ¼ cup All purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt
- Now add your coconut, old fashioned oats, nuts and cranberries to your flour mixture.1 cup of mixed and toasted nuts (hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, pecans), 1 cup of old fashioned oats, ½ cup dried cranberries, ½ cup of unsweetened shredded coconut
- Mix the dry ingredients together until it al the ingredients are evenly distributed.
- Now add this into your butter mixture and mix until all incorporated.
- With a medium sized ice cream scoop (for larger cookies) or a heaping tablespoon (for smaller cookies), scoop your batter on to the baking sheet and spread them about ½ inch apart.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes for small ice cream sized scoops or until they are turning golden brown on the top and on the edges.
- Let cool for at least 10 minutes to set up on cookie sheet once they are out of the oven. They will firm up as they cool.
- After 10 minutes, remove from the sheet pan on to a cooling rack and let completely cool for another 10-15 minutes. They will be soft and chewy and delicious!
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition Values are estimates only.
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Jan says
These cookies were absolutely delicious! So buttery and so much flavor!
Melissa says
I am glad you enjoyed it! They are definitely one of my favorites 🙂