April 18, 2019
updated
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Sweet, salty, crunchy, chewy- this Kitchen Sink Cookie recipe has it all! It’s clear where they get their name from, and after one bite you won’t be making basic chocolate chip cookies anymore.
We’ve all heard the term “everything but the kitchen sink,” and I’m sure some of us have used it from time to time… but the truth is that in my house, the term applies to both this cookie recipe and my kitchen!
As you know, I remodeled my kitchen last year and one of the most life-changing things I did was replace my double-bowl sink with a large Elkay Quartz Luxe sink. And boy-oh-boy has it changed how I clean up my messes in the kitchen.
For starters, baking is messy. If you’ve followed my kitchen adventures for a while, you know that I don’t bake often – I cook. Baking is messy and there’s a lot of cleanup of large bowls that don’t all fit in my dishwasher.
Now that I have a huge Elkay sink, cleanup is a breeze and even my sheet pans go in there without any fuss. A sine that fits an entire sheet pan! Oh, yeah. You can pretty much fill my sink with everything in the kitchen and it will still fit. Baking, Sunday suppers, the aftermath of my weekly meal prep… all of it.
What are Kitchen Sink Cookies?
If you’ve never had a Kitchen Sink Cookie you are in for a treat! A soft, chewy cookie with melted caramel, chocolate bits, crunchy pretzels, and savory sea salt…. go ahead and preheat the oven, I’ll be waiting.
Okay, you’re back so let’s talk cookies! These are especially fun to bake and I don’t know about you but I never fail to make a mess when baking.
Everything You Need for Kitchen Sink Cookies
Of course, you’ll need basic cookie ingredients like flour, butter, sugar, baking soda, and eggs but the fun part is the add-ins! I usually opt for items I keep on hand. For this recipe, I had caramel morsels, chocolate chips, pretzels, and if I had walnuts, I definitely would have used those. Next time.
This is also a good time to put all that leftover chocolate Easter candy to use! Chop your favorite pieces into bits and fold them into the dough, can’t go wrong there!
I also chose to do a brown butter cookie dough, which gives these cookies a richer flavor. Yes that means dirtying another dish but having a deep kitchen sink helps to keep my counters and stovetops clear, so everything is “out of sight, out of mind”, at least until I’m done baking.
If adding another dirty bowl to your stack is a no-go, I get it! Go ahead and make the recipe using softened butter, the cookies will still turn out chewy, soft, and perfect.
What Else Can You Put in Kitchen Sink Cookies
There are no rules when it comes to kitchen sink cookie add-ins! It’s whatever your heart desires, but to give you a few ideas, you can use:
- White chocolate chips
- Dark chocolate bits
- M & M’s
- Nuts
- Dried Cranberries
- Raisins
- Toffee Bits
- Peanut butter chips
- Chopped candy bar
- Crushed potato chips –seriously!
Yes, I wasn’t kidding about the crushed potato chips, I might have to try those soon!
Sweet and Salty Cookies
Kitchen Sink Cookies have one up on the classic chocolate chip cookies with the addition of pretzels and a tiny sprinkle of sea salt on top! The salty/savory ingredients bring out the rich chocolatey and buttery flavors.
Seriously, who can pass up that sweet and salty combo? Not this gal and her fam. Sort of like eating peanut butter and apple sandwiches, kettle corn, chocolate covered pretzels, and you know, all the best foods.
How to Make Cookies Chewy
Without a doubt, homemade cookies should be soft and chewy. Baking up the perfect chewy cookie is all about controlling the moisture content; so making some ingredient modifications and with the tips below, you’ve got yourself a perfect batch! All of which are part of this kitchen sink cookie, but these are for your other baking needs.
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Reduce the eggs to one
The more eggs, the more cake-like your cookies will be. If a recipe calls for 2 eggs, reduce it to one or, use only the yolks.
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Use more brown sugar
Brown sugar has more moisture than white sugar due to its high molasses content. Try substituting more brown sugar in place of white sugar. If a recipe calls for 2 cups of sugar, use 1 ½ cups of brown sugar and ½ cup of white sugar.
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Reduce oven temperature to 325F.
Some people can be a little “iffy” about taking cookies out the oven before they look done, but I PROMISE they’ll finish baking as they cool! This way, they cook slowly and retain moisture so they’ll be all soft, chewy, and delicious.
Also, storing cookies properly can help keep them chewy so make sure to store them in an airtight container at room temp. They should last for up to a week, but let’s be honest here, that’s looking more like by midnight tonight.
How to Freeze Cookies
Of course, you can always double or triple a batch of cookies and freeze extras. To freeze these cookies, simply scoop the cookie on a baking sheet and freeze them. Once frozen, transfer them to a zip bag and label it with the baking temperature and time.
When ready to bake, simply add 2 to 3 minutes to your baking time.
So what do you think? Are you ready to bake some incredible cookies? Or, are you like me, someone that doesn’t bake often because cleanup is a dreaded task?
If you’ve always wanted a large kitchen sink, whether you want an undermount or top mount sink Elkay has you covered. You can easily update your kitchen like I did and make kitchen cleanup a breeze.
Head over to Elkay to check out their gorgeous line of sinks and turn your kitchen into a dream kitchen.
Kitchen Sink Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, browned, optional
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt, additional coarse salt for sprinkling
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup mini pretzels, additional for the tops
- 1 ½ cups caramel chips, additional for the tops
- ¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips, additional for the tops
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Brown the butter by melting it in a small saucepan, over medium heat, whisking as it melts, foams, bubbles, and eventually little brown bits form and it turns amber. Immediately pour into a large, heatproof, bowl, and use a spatula to scrape all the little brown bits into the bowl.
- To the browned butter, add vanilla, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. With a hand mixer, beat until they’re combined well. Add in the eggs and beat for an additional 30 seconds.
- Add the baking powder, salt, and about a third of the flour. Mix slowly, add another third of flour, mix, and add the last of the flour until just combined.
- Fold in the pretzels, caramel bits, and chocolate chips into the cookie dough.
- Scoop ¼ cup balls of dough onto the baking sheet, leaving 2-inches for the cookies to expand. Sprinkle additional caramel and chocolate chips, pretzels, and coarse salt flakes over the tops.
- Bake, 11 to 13 minutes, until the tops are golden and the middles are slightly undercooked.
- Remove from oven and allow them to cool down for 5 minutes prior to transferring the cookies onto a cooling rack.
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