Santa’s Kitchen Sink Cookies — Santa and everyone else won’t be able to resist these AMAZING cookies loaded with everything but the kitchen sink!! EASY, festive, salty-sweet treats with a FUN ingredients list!!
My Favorite Unique Christmas Cookies
These everything but the kitchen sink cookies are a spinoff of my Cowboy Cookies meets Compost Cookies. Trust me when I say that all the ingredients work together really well and even though you may raise an eyebrow, I promise am not leading you astray.
The cookies are soft, chewy, there is tons of texture from all the add-ins, and if you love salty-sweet treats, these will be a new favorite for you.
For all those inquiring minds, the potato chip flavor isn’t very pronounced at all. They add texture and saltiness, and are a great addition.
The same can be said for the pretzels, although the pretzels definitely give more noticeable crunch than the potato chips. Make these Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies next with your extra pretzels.
What’s in These Kitchen Sink Cookies?
For these easy Christmas cookies, you’ll need:
- Butter
- Brown and granulated sugars
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Chocolate chips/chunks
- Holiday colored M&M’s (I used Plain)
- Pretzels (I used skinny rods)
- Potato chips
How to Make Kitchen Sink Cookies
These cookies follow a very typical cookie-making protocol. Cream the butter, add the sugars, egg, vanilla, and beat everything together before adding the flour and baking soda.
Add in all the remaining add-ins, scoop into mounds, and chill the dough before baking the cookies
Do I Have to Chill the Cookie Dough?
Yes! It is very important to chill the dough because otherwise these cookies will be very prone to spreading. I recommend 3+ hours in the fridge (or overnight). You can probably get away with chilling the dough for 30-ish minutes in the freezer, but I haven’t tested that method personally.
You want to chill the dough in individual cookie mounds, not in one big bowl that you stash in the fridge. Otherwise you’ll be trying to chisel out rock hard dough from a bowl and it’s very difficult, crumbly, and not advised.
What Else Can I Put in the Cookies?
This is a very flexible recipe with regard to the add-ins. If you feel like omitting some of the add-ins and swapping them for something else, go for it.
Exact quantities will vary based on what you add and what you eliminate, but you can experiment and see how things go, and play it by ear as long as you’re a somewhat experienced baker. If you’re not an experienced baker, I recommend sticking with the recipe as written the first time you make the cookies.
If you have any of these items in your pantry and are feeling experimental, they could be fun add-ins:
- Chopped pecans
- Chopped walnuts
- Toffee bits
- Diced candy bars pieces (Snickers, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Milky Way, Rolo, etc.)
- White chocolate chips
- Peanut butter chips
- Butterscotch chips
- Old-Fashioned Whole-Rolled Oats (if you try this, I’d go with 1/2 cup and then reduce the flour by 1/4 cup and see how the dough consistency looks)
- Sweetened shredded coconut (same advice as with the oats above)
- Cereal (Special K, Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies; same advice as with the oats above)
Tips for Making This Kitchen Sink Cookie Recipe
Note that you can make the dough up to 5 days in advance and let it sit covered in the fridge and then bake off only as many cookies as you want or need at one time. You can even freeze the dough for up to 4 months before baking it.
When you’re baking the cookies, keep a close eye on them because in my oven, at 8 minutes they’re underdone, and anything over 11 minutes and they are prone to burning on the bottom, so watch for that perfect sweet spot in your oven.
Exact baking times will vary based on the exact size of your cookies, your oven, and ingredient variances. Always watch your baked goods and not the clock when determining doneness.
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Santa's Kitchen Sink Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more only if needed (see step 5)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and/or chunks, I used a mixture
- ¾ cup holiday colored M&Ms, I used plain
- ¾ to 1 cup skinny pretzel rods, halved (loosely measured)
- 1 heaping cup potato chips, loosely measured
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and electric mixer) add the butter and beat on high power to cream it (whip it; you're not adding any cream) for about 2 minutes.
- Add the egg, sugars, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, about 3 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, baking soda, salt, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the chocolate chips, M&Ms, pretzels, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Add the potato chips and beat very briefly, about 20 seconds, to incorporate. Note - At this point the dough should have the consistency of typical cookie dough, a bit sticky and tacky, but not overly moist. If it is too wet, add 2 to 4 tablespoons flour, or as needed to get the dough to come together better and be less sticky.
- Using a medium cookies scoop, form approximately 16 equal-sized mounds of dough.
- Place the mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet).
- Bake for about 9 to 10 minutes. Note - 8 minutes in my oven the cookies are underdone but anything over 11 minutes and they are prone to burning; watch your cookies and not the clock when determining doneness and keep a close eye on them. Bake just until the edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center; don’t overbake. Cookies firm up as they cool.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. I let them cool on the baking sheet and don’t use a rack.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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great
These look fun and delicious–lots of favorite treats all in one cookie! Have a nice Thanksgiving Averie!