Traditional Thankful Cookies: Harvest Cookies for Thanksgiving

Do you want to start a Thanksgiving cookie tradition with these Traditional Thankful Cookies? I can tell you that they are an amazing upgrade from cookies that are out there. 

This is a recipe that has been in our family for 6 Thanksgivings! They have become a traditional and thus the reason for being the Traditional Thankful Cookie. 

Why do we call them the

Traditional Thankful Cookie? 

Well, it’s because they have coconut and butterscotch. So when you bake them and eat them, they look like a field of wheat and squash = harvest time. 

And harvest time is a time of reflection and thankfulness for the bountiful blessings that God has given for the year. It is the reason why Thanksgiving started in the first place. Thus, these Traditional Thankful Cookies remind us of our blessings and are great conversation cookies for Thanksgiving Day! 

These traditional cookies started in our home 6 Thanksgivings ago and I will tell you the story of that time (btw – our daughter has since been cured of peanut allergies, but we still love these cookies = AHmazing).

Here’s the story of how these

Traditional Thankful Cookies came to be….

I totally have to give my girls credit for this recipe. We have a rule in our house that we should and will modify recipes to fit our lifestyle and our budget. Essentially meaning that we try to substitute ingredients we have on hand so we don’t have to spend more money to buy the recipe needed items. Most of the time, the substitutions are to make a popular version a healthified version as I try to carry mostly healthy swaps in our pantry.

But you know, sometimes the sugar bug just bites and you got get rid of it by making something not so healthy. But hey, that what this time of year is notorious for, right?

Our 7-year old is the master of recipes and kitchen doings. She and her older sister love to be in the kitchen cooking and helping whenever they possibly can. I love it sometimes (and sometimes I have to bit my lower lip and let them be the little helpers even if it slows me down ;)).

So with that, our 7-year found a recipe in one of her coloring books. It was for a cookie with both chocolate and peanut butter chips. She is allergic to peanuts, but she quickly came up with a replacement which is dark chocolate chips and butterscotch chips and she wanted to add shredded coconut to the mix too. We had all of those on hand (like I said, I try to keep healthier swaps in the pantry – so the dark chocolate chips were 63% Cacao and umm… the butterscotch, well it is somehow healthier ;)) she also found a bag of organic coconut and thought that this would be good too! Coconut is good for you.

Well, we did this recipe with her replacements and it was a FABULOUS cookie! I mean, I am talking really, really good.

But another thing happened in the kitchen when we made them.

The two girls even gave this cookie a name: Haystacks and Harvest cookies as it looks like hay (coconut) and fall harvest (the chocolate and butterscotch chips make it look like pumpkins and squashes in the ground ;)) What a fun brilliant name too!

We ate these during that Thanksgiving and we all started talking about our bountiful blessings, like the blessing of the harvest of the first Thanksgiving. we began our reflection and thankfulness talks, while giving our thanks to God for his provisions. 

This has gone on for many years now and so they became known as Traditional Thankful Cookies. 

This Thanksgiving week for this year, we want to share this recipe for Traditional Thankful Cookies with you! 

So if you want to make Haystacks and Harvest Cookies, a.k.a. Traditional Thankful Cookies, here’s how to do it!

Ingredients needed for Traditional Thankful Cookies:

• 1 cup of butter
• 3/4 cup of white sugar
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. of vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups of flour
• 1 tsp. of baking soda
• 1 tsp. of salt
• 1 cup of dark chocolate chips
• 1 cup of butterscotch chips
• 1 cup of shredded coconut

Directions for Traditional Thankful Cookies:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Grease cookie sheets
• In a large bowl, beat together with mixer the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy
• Add the eggs one at a time, beating well in between each addition
• Mix in vanilla
• Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Once it is mixed, add it to the egg/sugar mixture
• Add the dark chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and shredded coconut and mix gently, folding the ingredients in until mixed
• Drop by spoonfuls on the greased cookie sheets
• Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8-11 minutes or until golden brown
• Cool on cookie sheet for 3-5 minutes. Transfer to wire rack or wax paper for final cooling

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