Kitchen Sink Cookies

Or everything but the kitchen sink cookies - in other words, when you’ve got bits and pieces of ingredients lying around, not enough to make a full recipe by themselves so you put them together to make something new.

This came about when I had less than half a bag of semisweet chocolate chips and really wanted to make cookies. I started poking in my cupboards and found some pecan pieces, a mostly gone package of rolled oats, and dried cranberries. Surely, I thought, surveying the sorry lot like Cinderella’s fairy godmother seeing the possibilities with a pumpkin, some mice, and bits of torn rags, I could conjure something decent.

The result was decent enough that I had polished off a whole plate of these by the time the weekend was finished. They’re addictive to be sure; not too sugary and have a satisfying salty and sweet combination that is irresistible.

Best of all, the recipe is ultra versatile. Don't have dried cranberries? Use raisins instead. No pecan pieces? Try almonds or chopped walnuts. 

Kitchen Sink Cookies

Makes 2 dozen

1 cup flour

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup dried cranberries

½ cup pecan pieces

1 tsp vanilla extract (preferably bourbon vanilla)

2 large room temperature eggs

1 cup room temperature butter

1 tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp sea salt

1. Preheat the oven to 375°

1.  Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until well incorporated.

2.  Add two eggs and mix well.

3. Add the vanilla.

4. In a separate bowl, mix well the dry ingredients (flour, oats, baking soda, & sea salt).

5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until the batter is just beginning to come together.

6. Add the chocolate chips, cranberries, and pecan pieces and mix until evenly distributed and the batter has come off the sides of the bowl.

7. On a cookie sheet lined with a silicone mat, drop tablespoons of the dough, 12 in all, into equidistant rows.

8. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. Oven cooking times may vary but just make sure that you take them out when the edges only are starting to turn brown. The ideal cookie is crispy on the outside but soft and moist on the inside.