I’ve been working on a few baking projects today and the compost cookie was one of them. It was a failure, but something good came out of it and that was the idea to toss the pretzels and chips with a brown sugar butter mixture, bake them, and then add them to the cookie. The coating kept the pretzels & chips crisp and added more flavor to the cookies. And while I didn’t get the base for the cookie quite right, I had fun throwing the chips/pretzel mixture into another good dough – Monster dough, which is usually flourless and made with oatmeal, peanut butter, and lots of add-ins.
You can make the monsters without the pretzels and chips if you want, but if you do decide to make the pretzel chip mixture, you should have enough leftover to play with. And by play with, I mean add to your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe to make a compost tribute cookie. You could add the pretzel chip mixture to OCG’s cookies or perhaps try it in this old Neiman Marcus cookie which just happens to have espresso powder and which might result in something similar to the compost.
- 2 cups mini pretzels
- 1 cup thick potato chips – Kettle chips work well, you could get away with thin
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 stick butter, softened (unsalted) – 114 grams)
- 1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar (275 grams)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (190 grams)
- 1 12-ounce jar creamy peanut butter (336 grams) I used Central Market Natural
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (2 ml)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (2 ml)
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 4 1/2 cups quick cooking oatmeal
- 1/2 cup M&M’s
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13×9 inch metal pan or a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment.
- Chop the pretzels in halves and thirds with a chef’s knife. Don’t worry about chopping them too small – I left some of mine whole. Mix the pretzels and chips together in a bowl. If you’re using really big, thick chips, break them up a little. Melt the 4 T. butter in a small saucepan and when melted, add the brown sugar. Stir well and cook for a minute, then quickly pour over pretzel/chip mixture and toss to coat. Spread mixture on your lined cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes. Let cool, then break up into pieces.
- Cream the butter and both sugars in a large bowl using an electric mixer. Beat in the peanut butter, vanilla, eggs, salt. Beat well and scrape sides of bowl. Stir in the baking soda, oats, M&Ms, chocolate chips and 1 big cup of pretzel mixture, break it up slightly if you want. Also, add more if you want.
- Scoop up quarter cups of dough and mold them into balls. Press lightly to make thick discs. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until they look done (edges will brown very slightly). Let stand on cookie sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool.
- Not sure of yield.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Great idea that you had to keep the pretzels and chips crisp! I wonder how the chips taste on their own, must be a really interesting flavour! Looking at the cookies they seem so crunchy!!! And really, pb, cc, pretzels, chips, oats and m&ms, how can it not be great?
Those cookies look like they have a good crunch to them – what a idea to use pretzels and chips crisp!
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. You’re amazing!
I made monster cookies for the 4th of July. These are some great new mix-in ideas!
Hey…
Is there anyway this recipe could be halved?
They sure look good ANNA! I have another
name for these…PMS cookies! I usually
crave salty/sweet before.
I have LAYS potato chips..in your opinion
would the crispy kind work better…you
said they would..but I am wondering about
that.
Therese, I think the Lays would work. Give it a try! About halving, I would keep the chip/pretel mixture the same and just save what you don’t use, then halve the dough.
Oh, these look great! I love pretzels in treats and adding potato chips too sounds yummy. Monster cookies are my mom’s favorite, so I’ll have to save this one for when she visits
Hi Anna!
Just took the last batch out of the oven!
What a GREAT recipe. I kinda sort felt
out the recipe. I kept the ingredients the same and made a smaller portion of dough.
Mine turned out to be 23 LARGE cookies.
I used the thin potato chips and thicker
pretzel sticks. The think chips worked
out fine!
Yummy!!!
Glad the thin chips worked! You can use the leftover candied chips and pretzels for another cookie. In fact, I made a new oatmeal dough today that I might post tomorrow.
The Compost Cookies look amazing with the chips and pretzels! All baking projects are on hold while I wait for that recipe! I’m going to share the cookies with the same gals I made the Frito Candy for (they laughed at first, but they ate it!). Good luck, and thanks for all your hard work!
ONE MORE COMMENT!
These are great training food cookies! I am SURE that is why I ran so well today!!
An all around standing “ovation” for these
cookies. Who’da think frito candy into the
cookie…brilliant!
I just looked a ahead and saw the pie…the MAYA, MY O MY Pie…sweet Jesus that looks
great!!