Kitchen Sink Cookies are a perfect blend of sweet and savory all wrapped up in one delicious cookie.
Sometimes I want cookies, but I don’t always want them to be sweet. That got me to thinking. I know that some cookies have salt sprinkled on the top but that didn’t feel like enough. So, what if I threw in some classic savory snacks? Because of the random bits that are added into the cookie, it only seems fair that this is called a kitchen sink cookie. Everything goes into it!
I really was confused by the idea of putting pretzels and potato chips into a cookie. Well… I was less unsettled by the pretzels since there are many pretzel deserts. Chocolate covered pretzels are some of my favorites. But potato chips? That felt like a whole new realm. However, I was determined to try it and see what happened.
Check out the Make section of MCG for more fun recipes like desserts and savory dishes.
Ingredients
For this bake, I decided to go with a more classic cookie base. This meant I was using brown sugar in addition to my usual cookie staples. I decided to go with white chocolate chips for this cookie because I thought their extra sweetness would balance out the extra salt that I was putting into the cookie. But other types of chocolate chips can work as well.
I do wonder what else someone could put in a kitchen sink cookie. It got me thinking; what naturally goes in cookies? Butterscotch, cinnamon… But are there any other savory snacks that could go in? That seems like a fun experiment, but I am also sure that will be a lot of combinations that naturally won’t work.
Process
Making the Dough
The first step of making kitchen sink cookies is making the dough. I feel like the cookie base for these is not particularly out of the ordinary. I started by whisking the flour together with the baking soda and baking powder. There is always a part of me that wants to sift flour when baking but the other part of me wants to be as fast as possible. It’s a battle I just cannot win.
In a large bowl, I creamed together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. I like to let the mixer run for about 5 minutes in this process to really get some air into the butter. This makes the mixture nice and fluffy. Which, in turn, helps make the cookies light and fluffy as well.
I added in the eggs to the mixture, one at a time, and mixed until everything was combined. Scraping the sides is essential during this process to avoid getting clumps of butter. I know I don’t mind but some people don’t want to accidentally get a big chunk of butter in their cookies. The vanilla extract was also added at this point.
Then I added the dry mixture into the wet mixture and mixture until just combined. I stopped a little short of the mix being fully combined because I knew the toppings were going to be added and I didn’t want to over mix the cookie dough. Cookie dough is difficult to overmix, but I am paranoid.
The Mix Ins
What makes Kitchen Sink Cookies are more the mix ins than the cookie itself. I decided to keep my core recipe simple with just chocolate chips, pretzels, and potato chips. I wanted to get the pretzels and potato chips down to chocolate chip size for the cookies. This is where a Ziploc bag and a rolling pin come in handy.
It’s time to smash! Okay, maybe not with that much enthusiasm. I wanted to break up the pieces, so they were small but not so small that they turned into dust. The original shape of the pretzels and potato chips should still be relatively intact. I then added in the chocolate chips.
I set aside some of this mix for later and mixed the rest into the cookie dough. The paddle also did a little extra to break down the mix ins
Shaping and Baking
With the dough ready, it’s time for these kitchen sink cookies to take shape. I started by divided up the dough and rolling them into a ball shape. The mix ins did make it a little difficult to get a perfect sphere.
I then took some of the set aside mix-ins and pushed them into the top of the cookie, so they really pop as kitchen sink cookies right as you look at them. Then it was time for the cookies to bake and enjoy!
Reflections
I really like how these cookies turned out, but I did find them a little strange. The cookie taste really overtook the potato chips in my mind. But the chips did add an extra crunch factor that was crunchy in a different way from the pretzels. The pretzels stood on their own.
I am curious what would happen if I added more mix ins or even different types of chips. Or if I added popcorn! That’s a treat that is often paired with sweets as well. There’s a lot the imagination can do with these cookies, and I know I’m going to make something that I will regret one day.
Lessons
Eat ‘Em Quick!
The difficulty about putting pretzels and potato chips inside of a cookie is twofold. And they both come into play after baking. One is oxygen. If the cookies are exposed to too much air then the chips and pretzels can go stale. Well… the cookies can go stale too but I think that happens over a longer period of time.
Two, and more likely is sogginess. The pretzels and potato chips are naturally submerged in a cookie that is full of butter. This can cause the mix ins to soften and not be so crispy and crunchy the longer you wait to eat these. I would recommend eating them on the same day they are made to get the full enjoyment out of eating these kitchen sink cookies.
recipe
Kitchen Sink Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Unsalted Butter softened
- ¾ Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Cup Brown Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- ½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 ¾ Cup All-Purpose Flour
- ¾ Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ Cup White Chocolate Chips
- 1 Cup Pretzels small pieces
- 1 Cup Potato Chips small pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325° Fahrenheit.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, and then add in the vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl and mix until combined.
- In a small bowl, combine chocolate chips, pretzels, and potato chips. Set aside approximately 1/5 of the mixture. Add the remaining 4/5 to the cookie dough.
- Divide the dough into 24 and roll into balls. Press a small mix of the set aside chocolate chips / pretzels / potato chips, into the top of each cookie.
- Bake for 10 to 13 minutes.
- Let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.
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