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12 Trail Gifts for under $50, Day 12
Gift 12: Trail Mix Cookies

Make your hiker some delicious trail mix cookies that will fuel them through winter adventures.
My grandpa was tired of fruit cake. He decided that making fruit cake cookies might be a much better take on the classic lead brick of candied fruit & nuts in a bread pan. My mom added the “fruit balls” to her amazing Christmas cookie repertoire, but put her Northern California twist on the recipe. She decided to use dried fruit and raw nuts in her fruit balls, but would add in the bright red candied cherries as festive color pop that my grandparents could recognize.
I have taken the fruit ball recipe a step further, saying goodbye to the candied cherries & adding in trail mix. Each December I dig through my hiking food box and pull out all my remnant trail mix, buy any extra fruit & nuts I need, and whip up a batch of fruit balls. This recipe is a great way to make sure you keep your trail mix stock pile fresh. The fruit balls themselves have a long shelf life. I usually toss a bag in the freezer and pull them out for summer adventures months later.

Ingredients:
2 lbs nuts (pecans & cashews are my favorite, but almonds, hazel nuts, and anything else will do too)
3 lbs dried fruit, chopped into bite sized bits. I usually use a mix of dried cranberries, cherries, pineapple, figs, apricots, and peaches. The smaller berries are the perfect size, but chopping the bigger fruits makes the cookies easier to eat.
2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar

Step 1:

Chop fruit, blend nuts and fruit in a […]