Thick, soft cookies loaded with everything but the kitchen sink. Add all your favorite mix-ins: chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, marshmallows, toffee bits, nuts, coconut, and more. Each bite is slightly different than the last making these cookies absolutely addicting.
If you’re like us, you might have a pantry filled with odds and ends from holiday baking. This here is the best way to use them up! Cleaning out your pantry has never been so delicious!
Am I a rebel or what? It’s the first week of January and I made cookies. While everyone else is sharing green smoothies and vegetarian dinners, I’m over here cramming 4 kinds of chocolate into cookies. 😉
This recipe joins our Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies and Cookies and Cream Cookies as one of our all-time favorites!
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Recipe overview
These cookies are loaded with everything but the kitchen sink. Start with a basic cookie dough (the same dough used for our Butterscotch Cookies) and add lots of tasty mix-ins. Here’s how to do it:
- Beat butter and sugars.
- Add egg and vanilla.
- Beat in flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Stir in all the mix-ins!
- Scoop and bake.
What mix-ins to use
Use whatever you have on hand and whatever combination sounds good to you. Here are some ideas:
- Chocolate Chips
- White Chocolate Chips
- Peanut Butter Chips
- Butterscotch Chips
- Toffee Bits
- Nuts
- M&M’s
- Crushed Pretzels
- Sweetened Shredded Coconut
- Mini Marshmallows (the tiny dried kind work best here)
- Raisins or Dried Cranberries
NOTE: If using several really sweet mix-ins (butterscotch chips, white chocolate, toffee bits, coconut) add in some less sweet mix-ins as well (bittersweet chocolate, crushed pretzels, salted nuts) to balance the sweetness.
Why you’ll love this recipe
Ease: Only about 15 minutes of hands on time.
Flavor: Make these cookies with your favorite mix-ins.
Texture: Crisp buttery edges, soft centers, and each bite slightly different than the last.
No chill time: Bake right after preparing the dough.
Use up leftover ingredients: Put those “chips” and nuts to good use.
Recipe tips
- 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.
- 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!
- Use a cookie scoop for evenly sized cookies. I like to make these cookies fairly large, about 2-tablespoons of dough per cookie.
- For thicker cookies (as pictured) form the dough balls into mounds that are taller rather than wider. Don’t overwork the dough with your hands, just briefly press into a oval-ish mound with a flat bottom.
- Nestle a few extra “chips” or nuts on top of the dough balls before baking. This makes for a prettier cookie.
- Under bake the cookies. 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.
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Recipe
Kitchen Sink Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened but still cool to the touch
- ½ cup packed brown sugar , make sure it is fresh and soft
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1⅔ cups mix-ins, see note
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl combine flour, 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*. 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.
Notes
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
What a great-tasting cookie! I made these for my family and they just adored them. Thank you for the great recipe.
Allison
You’re welcome!
Sheila
And potato chips!
Brandy
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
Can you make dough ahead and freeze? If so do you bake frozen (how is cook time modified?) or thaw the dough?
Allison
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
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
That sounds great! Glad you enjoyed them. 🙂
Jeannine Shaffer
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
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
You’re welcome! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Noel J
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
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
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
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Sandy
Great tip for making cookies round. I’ll give that a try!
Sharon
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
I’m glad you enjoyed them. 🙂