Everything but the Kitchen Sink Cookies

Sep 06

The Recipe

Soft and chewy cookies filled with everything but the kitchen sink, including potato chips, pretzels, butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, and coconut.

As you may have read in my Everything but the Kitchen Sink Cake post, the idea for these Everything but the Kitchen Sink Cookies came from my mom. However, when she asked if I’d make my own version of the cookie, I decided to first make a cake based off this popular treat.

But, as promised, it’s time for the cookies!

Potato Chip and Pretzel Crack Filling

I hope you saved some of that potato chip and pretzel crack filling from the cake, because it’s not something you want to skip in these cookies. Most recipes I reviewed for “Kitchen Sink Cookies” just threw in the potato chips and pretzels. The problem with this method is that your crunchy snacks are likely to get soft after a while in the dough. I was concerned about this for the cake too. To make sure the potato chips and pretzels would stay crunchy, I adapted Milk Bar’s recipe for their Cereal Crunch to make the potato chip and pretzel crack filling.

With a little brown sugar, milk power and butter, you’ll bake the filling on low heat for nearly a half hour. This creates a toffee-like coating around the salty snacks and helps everything to keep a nice crunch.

The Cookie Base

The base for these cookies comes from my Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chips Cookies. These classic cookies are some of my favorite to make. They’re easy and quick, and always a big hit. Instead of using two cups of chocolate chips, I reduced the amount to just one cup so I could load it with another cup of butterscotch chips, toasted coconut, and the potato chip and pretzel crack filling. The cookie is pretty sweet on it’s own, so I think it’s crucial to add a little extra crack filling. You’ll love getting those salty bites with everything sweet around it.

As with the cake, you could also add some of your other favorite snacks to the cookie like pecans, oats, and other flavored baking chips.

Can’t wait for you to try these out. As always, let me know what you think!

Enjoy!


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Everything but the Kitchen Sink Cookies

Yield About 18-20 cookies

Soft and chewy cookies filled with everything but the kitchen sink, including potato chips, pretzels, butterscotch chips, chocolate chips and coconut.

Ingredients

For the Cookies

  • 1 cup unsalted butter, cold
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 2 large or extra large eggs, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • 1 cup butterscotch chips
  • 1 cup toasted coconut
  • 1 1/2 cups potato chip and pretzel filling (below)

FOR THE POTATO CHIP AND PRETZEL CRACK FILLING (ADAPTED FROM MILK BAR)

  • 2 cups ruffle potato chip, broken up into small pieces
  • 2 cups mini pretzels, broken up into small pieces
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder
  • 14 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Instructions

For the Cookies

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
  3. Add the eggs one at time and mix until well incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla and mix for about 30 seconds.
  4. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix until combined. 
  5. Stir in the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, toasted coconut and crack filling.
  6. Scoop 2-inch balls of dough onto the cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. The cookies are done when the edges are slightly golden brown. The top may look a little soft. That's ok! The cookies will continue to bake a little while they cool.

FOR THE POTATO CHIP AND PRETZEL CRACK FILLING

  1. Preheat your oven to 275 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
  2. Pour the pretzels and potato chips into a medium bowl. Add the sugars and milk powder and toss to mix.
  3. Add the butter and toss the mixture to coat. As you toss, the butter will act as glue, binding the dry ingredients to the chips and pretzels, creating small clusters.
  4. Spread the clusters on the parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes. They should look toasted and smell buttery. Cool completely before using in your cake. 
  5. You may need to break up the mixture even more to add to your cookies. 
  6. The crack filling can be made ahead of time and stored in an airtight container - 1 week at room temperature or up to 1 month in the fridge or freezer. (Keep the remaining crack filling for the cake!).

4 thoughts on “Everything but the Kitchen Sink Cookies”

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  1. I have made these cookies several times now and it is my new favorite! My oldest son was visiting at Christmas and LOVED them. I do have one question – each time I’ve made the crack filling, there seems to be an excessive amount of butter that needs to be drained off. I have checked my oven temp and it is fine. Am I not cooking it long enough? Should I reduce the amount of butter? Any ideas? Your cakes are all beautiful. I wish I lived closer and could take a class 🙂

    Reply

  2. Hi. My potato chip and pretzel crack filling keeps turning out like jolly ranchers when baked, should I reduce the butter? I’m also making these into cookie bars instead of cookies, will that change anything about the recipe? Thank you!

    Reply

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