Kitchen Sink Cookies

I had a bit of a baking snafu tonight. I was powering through making the batter for Gingerbread Whoopie Pies (recipe coming soon) when all of a sudden I got to the part of the recipe that stopped me in my tracks – literally. It said, "Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight." Talk about a baking buzz kill.

UGH. I completely forgot that gingerbread requires resting in the refrigerator (say that three times fast), and thought that because I was making whoopie "pies" it wouldn't need to be chilled.

Bottom line is that the oven was already pre-heated to 350 degrees and instead of turning it off, I was determined to make something, anything, that didn't require chilling. Sounds silly, but I was in the mood to bake and I wasn't going to throw in the kitchen towel because of a slight change of plan. I'm really glad I didn't, because these cookies turned out KILLER (as my Dad would say).

I basically used my tried and true cookie batter recipe, but added in everything and the kitchen sink. Chocolate chips, nuts, toffee, mini peanut butter cups, you name it, it was in there. And they are delicious with a capital D, especially if you like chunky, salty and sweet cookies.

Here's how I made the kitchen sink cookies:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened (30 seconds in the microwave usually does the trick)
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I use Bourbon vanilla extract for an added kick)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup baking walnut pieces
• 1 cup mini peanut butter cups (I get them at Trader Joe's)
• 1 cup crumbled toffee pieces
  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium-sized bowl. You don't have to sift the ingredients, but definitely whisk to combine. Beat the softened butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in a bigger bowl until creamy and all lumps are broken up. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well until combined. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, a small bit at a time. Once both mixtures are combined and the batter is smooth, stir in the chocolate chips and walnut pieces. Note: the batter will be really chunky after adding the chocolate chips and nuts.


Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or non-stick Silpat sheet. Using your hands, roll the batter into 1 1/2 inch rounds and place on the baking sheet. Keep about 3" between rounds. You should be able to fit about 8 rounds of batter on each baking sheet.

Bake the cookies for 13 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Remove the cookies from the oven and wait a moment or two before transferring to a cooling rack. Despite their size and chunky consistency the cookies cool fairly quickly, so go for it and take one. You know you want to!