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These Christmas Kitchen Sink Cookies are salty, sweet, and loaded with chocolate, toffee bits, pretzels, and potato chips! They’re soft but chewy and not only easy to make, but they’re quick too.
There’s no waiting for ingredients to come to room temperature and no chilling the cookie dough. You can customize the add-ins too!
Serve your cookies with a mug of hot cocoa using my homemade Hot Chocolate Mix!
Every January, I stare at my kitchen cabinets overflowing with half-empty bags of holiday goodies. Instead of throwing them all away or letting them go stale, I make these kitchen sink cookies. It’s a great way to transform the leftovers into something people actually want to eat.
You’ll love how this recipe is completely customizable. You can literally throw in whatever holiday remnants you have on hand and they’ll taste delicious! The best part? You can freeze the cookie dough and bake later! This is the perfect way to reduce waste, even when we want a break from the holiday sugar overload.
If you’re looking for a chocolate based recipe to throw your extras into, these Double Chocolate Brownies are a great option.
Christmas Kitchen Sink Cookies Ingredients
Here’s everything you will need to make this cookie recipe. Keep reading for a couple important notes.
- All-Purpose Flour: Be sure to measure with the spoon and level method for the right amount of flour. Too much and the cookies could be dry and not spread, too little and they’ll spread out like pancakes.
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Unsalted Butter: Salted butter will work too, just omit the added salt. I also want to note that we will partially melt the butter in a saucepan, so there’s no need to let it soften ahead of time.
- Sugar: This recipe uses a combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar. Raw cane sugars can be used too.
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- Add Ins: I used a combination of wavy potato chips, pretzels, Christmas M&M’s, toffee bits, and mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. Feel free to adjust these, depending on what you have on hand.
How to Make Christmas Kitchen Sink Cookies
1. Mix up the cookie dough. Cream together the partially melted butter and sugars, add in the egg and vanilla extract. Fold in the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. Then mix in the potato chips, pretzels, M&M’s, toffee bits, and chocolate chips. If you have time, allow the cookie dough to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes before scooping.
2. Bake and cool the cookies. Scoop the cookie dough onto your baking sheet and pile it high. Bake until the outer edges are browned, and allow them to cool 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack.
Find the complete recipe instructions with measurements below.
Freezing The Cookie Dough for Later
I love freezing the cookie dough to bake later because after weeks of nonstop holiday treats, sometimes you need a break from the sugar overload.
To do this you’ll want to scoop the dough into balls and freeze them on a parchment-lined baking sheet until solid. Once they’re frozen you can transfer them to a freezer-safe bag where they’ll keep for up to 3 months.
When you’re ready to bake a couple or the whole batch, place the frozen dough balls directly on your baking sheet. You don’t need to let them thaw, just add 2 to 3 extra minutes on the baking time.
Helpful Information
Slightly under bake these cookies. Because they’re large it can be tempting to bake them longer than required, but don’t! During their 10 minutes cooling on the hot pan they’ll continue cooking.
Tip for customizing the add-ins. No matter what goodies you choose, you’ll want to have 4 cups of the large crunchy stuff and 1 1/2 cups of the smaller stuff. This ratio will keep your cookies balanced. Here are a few delicious combinations I’ve tried:
- pretzels, potato chips, white chocolate bark, candy cane pieces
- potato chips, toasted pecans, dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, dark chocolate chunks
- potato chips, popcorn, caramel bits, and milk chocolate chips
- pretzels, graham crackers, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, peanut butter M&M’s
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
More Christmas Cookies You Might Enjoy
Christmas Kitchen Sink Cookies
EQUIPMENT
- stand mixer or hand mixer
- baking sheet - lined with parchment paper
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup unsalted butter - cold and cut into 8 tablespoon sized pieces
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour - measure with the spoon and level method*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt - omit if salted butter is used
- 2 cups wavy potato chips
- 2 cups pretzels
- ½ cup Christmas M&M's
- ½ cup toffee bits
- ½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350 °F. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a small saucepan add cold, cubed butter. Place on stove over low heat and allow the butter to become half melted and half softened.NOTE: I do not recommend using a microwave. It doesn't work the same as using your stove-top.
- To a small bowl, add all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together until well incorporated and set aside.
- Pour butter into a large bowl with the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Using your hand mixer or stand mixer cream the butter and sugar together until the sugar begins to dissolve and the mixture becomes lightened in color, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract, combine until well incorporated.
- Add the dry mixture of all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. Combine until almost all of the flour has absorbed.
- Add the wavy potato chips, pretzels, Christmas M&M's, toffee bits, and mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. Mix until they are all dispersed throughout the cookie dough.
- Scoop and pile portions of cookie dough onto the baking sheet leaving 2 inches of space between each. NOTE: Make sure the cookie dough is piled about 2 inches high. This is what makes them thick.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
- Remove cookies from the oven and allow them to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before placing them on a wire rack to cool completely.
RECIPE NOTES
- How to do the spoon and level method when measuring out flour. Just whisk the flour to aerate it, and then scoop the flour into a measuring cup. Level it off, and never shake or pack the flour into the measuring cup.
- Customizing the add-ins. No matter what you choose, you’ll want to have 4 cups of the large crunchy stuff and 1 1/2 cups of the smaller stuff. Other options include popcorn, graham crackers, caramel bits, white chocolate bark, Christmas crack, candy cane pieces, dried fruits, toasted nuts, etc.
STORING INFORMATION
- Room temperature, in an airtight container or re-sealable gallon bag, for up to 7 days.
- I do not recommend storing in the refrigerator because they tend to dry out.
- Frozen, in a freezer safe sealable bag, for up to 3 months. Allow the cookie(s) to come to room temperature before eating, or microwave them for 15-30 seconds.
FREEZE & BAKE LATER INFORMATION
- Scoop the dough into balls and freeze them on a parchment-lined baking sheet until solid. Once frozen, transfer them to a freezer-safe bag where they’ll keep for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to bake them, pop them onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.
Metric conversions are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
