On the way back from a rather chaotic road trip, we stopped at Strong Arm Baking Co. in Oxford for coffee and treats. My treats were the Kitchen Sink Cookies. They were soft, chewy, and had chunks of caramel, chocolate and pretzels. They got me thinking about all the Kitchen Sink Cookies I've made in the past, and I ended up going back to the blog to do a rundown.
There's the Sono Bakery version, which has less sugar. Martha Stewart's, which is oatmeal heavy, and this one from Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook by Elinor Klivans. Her recipe has the usual ratios for the dough, but calls for a ton of nuts -- 1 cup pecans, 1 cup walnuts and 1 cup chopped toasted almonds plus 3 cups of chips. They're basically candy and nuts with just enough dough to hold them together. In short, my kind of cookie! I felt like they needed some new photos, so I made a batch and added a few modifications.
One issue I had with the old recipe was spreading. Back when I first started baking the cookies I used the original amount of baking soda, ¾ teaspoon. It worked then, but now the cookies are spreading more with ¾ teaspoon, so I've reduced it to ½ teaspoon.
These cookies are intense. I think of Kitchen Sink Cookies as using up bits of things from the cabinet, but these are just very, very, nutty cookies with loads of chocolate. They're great frozen.
Recipe
Kitchen Sink Cookies With a Lot of Nuts
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached ap flour (140-150 grams)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt (Morton Kosher)
- 4 oz unsalted butter, room temperature (114 grams)
- ½ cup light brown sugar (100 grams)
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar (75 grams)
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2-3 cups chocolate chips, any kind but a mix is nice
- ¾ cup chopped up Heath Bar, optional
- 1 cup pecan halves toasted and chopped
- 1 cup walnut halves toasted and chopped
- 1 cup whole almonds, roasted and chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together and set aside.
- In bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and both sugars for about a minute. Scrape sides of bowl. Continue creaming for another minute. Reduce speed to low and beat in egg and vanilla stirring just until blended.
- On low speed, add the flour mixture and stir just until it is incorporated. Mix in the chips, toffee, and nuts. At this point, you may chill the dough or go ahead and bake the cookies. I chilled the dough.
- Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto the baking sheets, spacing the cookies 2 inches apart. (Alternatively, drop those rounded tablespoons of dough onto parchment or plastic wrap lined plates, chill until firm, then bake or freeze as needed.)
- Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the edges are lightly browned and the centers are just slightly colored - about 14 minutes. In the past I've also used convection and reduced the heat to about 325 for 14 minutes.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Jennifer JW says
I love cookies with lots of nuts! Luckily my kids like nuts, too, so I'll have to make these tonight. Tomorrow is parent-teacher conferences and maybe I can kiss up to the 14 teachers I have to visit, LOL.
Jess @ Bakericious says
the name of the cookies caught my attention and the looks of the cookies, definitely making me drooling!
Betty @ scrambled hen fruit says
I love all of the nuts in these cookies- toffee bits too! These are very tempting!
Janet says
OMG....I could see all the chocolate chips so well in the photo...makes me drool all over my keyboard;-) Thanks for the recipe....I'll be making it this week.
Camille says
These look glorious!
There is nothing in the world like a great cookie 🙂
Liz @ Blog is the New Black says
Nothing like a kitchen sink dessert!!
Katrina says
I love that cookbook. Those look just like her Chock Full of Chocolate Chip Cookies. Darn good cookies. Nuts just make everything better to me.
I just looked, the two recipes are different, but that gal makes a great cookie!
Sue says
It's sort of a "nutty" day here too. Wish I could work in making some of these. Maybe some nutty, choclatey cookies would smooth out the day.
Jeanette says
those look delicious! this is on my list to try~
Lisa Ernst says
The minute I saw the photo of this cookie, I knew it was right up my alley. Just enough dough to hold all those chips and nuts. Perfect! This is a must try.