These thick and soft cookies are loaded with everything but the kitchen sink! Add all your favorite mix-ins: chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, pretzels, toffee, nuts, and more.
Each salty-sweet bite is slightly different than the last, making these cookies absolutely addicting.
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What sets this recipe apart
ALL the mix-ins: These cookies are packed with LOTS of different mix-ins (as many different things as you want)! Every time I make them they are slightly different that the time before.
No chill time: Cookies in minutes! No chill time required.
Weight and cup measurements: This recipe has been tested by weight and using standard US cups. Take your pick!
Visual recipe overview
*Full recipe below in recipe card*
This is also the base recipe for my salted butterscotch cookies.
Beat butter and sugars
Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.
Add egg and vanilla
Beat egg and vanilla into the sugar mixture.
Add dry ingredients
Add flour, baking soda, and salt.
Add mix-ins
Stir in all your mix-ins!
Bake
Scoop the dough and bake.
What to put in kitchen sink cookies
Here are some mix-ins I have used in the past:
- Chocolate Chips
- White Chocolate Chips
- Peanut Butter Chips
- Butterscotch Chips
- Toffee Bits
- Salted nuts
- M&M’s
- Crushed Pretzels
- Crushed potato chips
- Shredded Coconut
- Mini Marshmallows (the tiny dried kind work best here)
- Raisins or Dried Cranberries
Copycat Panera Kitchen Sink Cookies
If you want to make these similar to Panera kitchen sink cookies use the following mix-ins: milk chocolate chips, pretzels, soft caramel candies cut into small pieces.
Recipe tips
My top tip for kitchen sink cookies 💡
For the best flavor and texture use a combination of salty and sweet and creamy and crunchy mix-ins. Pretzels, potato chips, dark chocolate, or salted nuts work great to offset the sweet mix-ins. A sprinkle of flaky sea salt after baking can also help with this.
Butter: Butter should be softened to cool room temperature. It should be soft but still cool to the touch. If the butter is over-softened (or beginning to melt) the cookies will spread too much in the oven.
Parchment paper: Line your baking sheets with parchment paper. This helps the cookies bake evenly and prevents them from spreading too much. Bonus: it also makes cleanup a breeze!
Thicker cookies: For thicker cookies (as pictured) form the dough balls into mounds that are taller rather than wider. An oval-ish mound with a flat bottom.
Make them pretty: Nestle a few extra “chips” or nuts on top of the dough balls before baking. This makes for a prettier cookie.
Underbake: You should remove these cookies from the oven when they are just starting to turn light golden brown but they are still undercooked. They should be so soft that you cannot pick them up off the baking sheet without them falling apart. They will firm up as they cool on the baking sheet.
Troubleshooting
Cookies spread too thin:
- Refrigerate dough for one hour.
- Mounds dough balls higher rather than wider.
- Be sure butter is not too soft when starting the recipe (it should still be cool to the touch).
- Try adding an extra tablespoon of flour next time.
- Don’t use mix-ins that will get really melty (like marshmallows or caramel sauce).
Cookies are too thick:
- Be sure not to overmeasure your flour. Weight measurements are best for this!
- Give the dough balls a smoosh down to encourage spreading.
Recipe
Kitchen Sink Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ⅔ cups (210g) all purpose flour, spooned and leveled, see note
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (113g) salted butter, softened but still cool to the touch
- ½ cup (110g) packed brown sugar , it should be fresh and soft
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1⅔ cups (approx 215g) mix-ins, see note
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl combine flour (see note about measuring), baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and both sugars for 1-2 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined.
- Slowly add the flour mixture, beating until just combined. Add a little more than one cup of mix-ins (reserving the rest for pressing on top of the cookies), stir until well combined.
- Scoop generous 2-tablespoon portions of dough and place the dough balls a couple inches apart on the baking sheets. For thicker cookies, mound the dough balls higher rather than wider. Nestle a few of the reserved mix-ins into the top of each dough ball (this makes for a prettier cookie).
- Bake the cookies for 9-12 minutes, until the edges are beginning to turn golden brown and the very center is still slightly underdone. Rotate the baking sheets halfway through cooking time, if necessary. Note: If your dough balls are smaller or larger than 2 tablespoons, adjust bake time accordingly. Make sure not to overbake – the cookies should still be soft in the center. See note about shaping cookies.
- Place the baking sheets on wire racks and allow the cookies to cool completely.
Video
Notes
Flour:
Flour should be spooned and leveled or weighed. If you scoop your measuring cup directly into the bag of flour, reduce flour to 1-½ cups.Mix-ins:
For the best flavor and texture use a combination of salty and sweet and creamy and crunchy mix-ins. Pretzels, potato chips, dark chocolate, or salted nuts work great to offset the sweet mix-ins. A sprinkle of flaky sea salt after baking can also help with this. Suggestions: chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips, sweetened shredded coconut, toffee bits, mini dried marshmallows, pretzels, salted nuts, M&M’s.How to get perfectly round cookies:
Option 1: Immediately after the cookies come out of the oven place a round glass, bowl, or cookie cutter (larger than the cookie) upside down over the top of the cookie. Gently but quickly swirl the glass/bowl/cookie cutter in a circular motion. The edges of the cookie will bump against the inside of the glass creating a perfectly round shape. Note: This only works when the cookies are hot, straight from the oven, and still on the warm baking sheet. Option 2: Immediately after the cookies come out the oven use the back of a spoon to gently push the edges inward to create clean edges and a perfect round shape.Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
Diana says
What a great-tasting cookie! I made these for my family and they just adored them. Thank you for the great recipe.
Allison says
You’re welcome!
Sheila says
And potato chips!
Brandy says
I am in love with these cookies! They had just a little bit of everything that made up one great cookie! They will not last long in my house!
Jennifer Gallagher says
Can you make dough ahead and freeze? If so do you bake frozen (how is cook time modified?) or thaw the dough?
Allison says
Yes, you can make it ahead and freeze it. Freeze portioned dough balls and thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Give the dough balls a little smoosh down before baking (since the dough is cold this will encourage spreading). You’ll likely need to add a minute or two to the bake time. Enjoy!
cat says
These were so good! I used a mix of shredded coconut, white choc chips, dark choc chips, roasted peanuts, and crushed pretzels. Easy to make. Texture was perfect!
Allison says
That sounds great! Glad you enjoyed them. 🙂
Jeannine Shaffer says
Delicious. Thank you. First time I ever dried out my mini marshmallows. I placed them on parchment paper in the oven and after 2hours@170 degrees, they were dry & ready to use.
Kay Leary says
Thank you for this recipe. Years ago my neighbor would make a big batch of these to share for the holidays. This made me think of her!
Allison says
You’re welcome! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Noel J says
Help! I tried this recipe tonight (doubled exactly) and ended up with dry dough and a test batch of cookies that puffed up a little but did not spread. Even after moistening the rest of the dough and letting it warm up slightly, my cookies still barely spread and ended up *too* soft on the inside when the outsides hit golden-brown. It’s not often I have a baking fail, so I’m not sure what I might have done wrong?!
Allison says
Hi! So sorry to hear that. It sounds like the ratio of wet ingredients to dry ingredients is off. Are you sure you doubled everything correctly? Are your eggs “large”, not small or medium? Also, are you using a mix-in that might be drying out the dough? Try shaping the dough into a thick cookie shape (rather than mound) to encourage spreading. Also, maybe you could press the dough into a pan and make bars? Best of luck playing around with it!
Kathryn Twomey says
Love this recipe. Have made these at least 8 times. I now double it. Kids with school lunches love ‘em. They eat them for breakfast or on the way To school
Allison says
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Sandy says
Great tip for making cookies round. I’ll give that a try!
Sharon says
Delish!!!! I used choc, white, pb, toffee and dried mini marsh…..yummm. Made a bit smaller for Xmas tins, baked 8 min plus used canning lid to create circular cookies which I saw some where else…. Works amazingly!!!
Allison says
I’m glad you enjoyed them. 🙂