This will be my first Father’s Day since Dad passed away. I’m doing my best to not dwell on the sadness and instead focus on remembering all the great times we had together. I started thinking about what I would have baked for him if he were here, and I recalled a cookie I made for him a few years ago. That particular cookie had all sorts of things mixed in – not exactly the combination I used here, but lots of chunks and different flavors going on. I remember that at the time I wasn’t too fond of those cookies but Dad raved about them for a long time after.
This memory got the creative juices flowing and then I recalled one of Dad’s favorite snack foods of all time, sunflower seeds. The idea of a chunk-ified cookie involving sunflower seeds inevitably brought me to the idea of trail mix cookies, which seemed just the thing since Dad’s favorite pastime (other than playing with his grandkids) was hiking and camping. So I played around in the kitchen until I came up with these cookies. They have an oatmeal base, are a little bit sweet and salty, and have plenty of chunks. While they still aren’t my personal favorite cookie, they are really good, and I know Dad would have loved them. As an added plus, that other important dad in my life (you know, my wonderful husband) is crazy about them as well. Cheers to all the dads for Father’s Day!
Note: This recipe was developed as part of my ongoing contribution to the Go Bold with Butter blog. Head over to see my posts as well as those of the other awesome bloggers involved with the project!
