AWARD WINNING Kitchen Sink Cookies

Although I cannot promote these cookies from a health standpoint - they’re loaded with butter, potato chips, pretzels, peanut butter and white chocolate chips - I can tell you they are holiday cookie swap award winning. I just took home a Starbucks gift card for having won my friends 2018 cookie swap. I couldn’t be any more proud. Take that Martha Stewart. You might have a line of glitter and be queen of stylish living, but I am a cookie swap queen dammit!!!!

So, originally I was going to make a healthy treat or some sort of organic dark chocolate bark, as I’d done in years past, but I wanted a win this go around. I knew the only way to win would be  to go for the junk food jugular. That’s right, I walked into the Dollar General purchased my contraband, walked up to the cashier and announced “Do you see all of the goodness and badness on this counter right now? (I didn’t give him a chance to respond) It’s because I’m about to win a cookie swap.” He laughed. I said, “I’m serious.” Then he rang up my chips, pretzels, white and peanut butter nibbles in complete silence. Now I’m having visions of other ways to make loaded contraband cookies - like weaving in Fruity Pebbles or Cinnamon Toast Crunch. And I think I’m going to do it. WHO AM I TURNING IN TO?!

I can see the headlines now, “Health Coach bakes line of refined sugar treats?”

My reply, “Well, at least they’re homemade! And I know these cookies aren’t loaded with nutrition and fiber, but they were made with love - right in my tiny galley kitchen and shared with friends at a holiday party. I enjoyed making them and eating every last bite. That’s health and healthy relationship with food.”

Who am I kidding, I had about 50 bites. 50 delectable and enjoyable bites. Make it your mission to enjoy your food party people. Unless you’re straight juicing and never eating sugar again in this lifetime (I’m sorta sorry for you if so as there are some delicious confections to indulge in), it’s worth putting your thing down flipping it and reversing it to find your balance. I balanced out the haze of my cookie crazed days with morning eggs and veggies and afternoon salads. See, health coaches wisdom. Eat the damn cookies, but also, treat your body well. Life really is all about balance and choice. Sure, my belly is a little sugar bloated, but I gotta say - she’s pretty happy.

You should know this Kitchen Sink cookie is soft on the inside, chewy and filled with flavor bombs of salt and sweet. These are not a traditional holiday cookie (I leave that to my mom) they are a fun spin on Momofuku Milk Bar’s Compost Cookie. The Compost Cookie uses chips and grahams, so I went peanut butter and white chocolate here because I was protecting a friend with a chocolate allergy. I KNOW, I feel for her too. One partygoer said these cookies reminded her of the Ample Hills Ice Cream flavor “The Munchies,” which I also took as a compliment of the highest order. If you don’t know Ample HIlls, I also suggest you 1) get there on your next trip to NY and 2) if you don’t get to NY, go online and order yourself some because 3) you won’t regret it. Orrrrr, you can make these cookies and mash them in vanilla Haagen Daaz, totally your call.

Happy Holidays from my junked up trunk, filled with sweetness, joy and goodness.

XO

Kitchen Sink Cookies

2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
½ teaspoon of salt
¾ cup of melted salted butter
1 ½ cups of light brown sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup of peanut butter chips
1 cup of white chocolate chips
1 medium sized bag of UTZ wavy potato chips *use your preferred brand
2 small boxes of Brach’s Pretzel Sticks, broken into pieces

-Preheat oven to 325 degrees
-Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper and put aside
-In a medium sized bowl sift together your dry ingredients: flour, baking soda and salt *sifting removes lumps and makes flour generally lighter and airier, you can also whisk but it does not yield the same results as I’ve gotten a flatter cookie in this process
-In a large bowl prepare your wet ingredients: melt butter, then add sugar, eggs and vanilla
-Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until flour is no longer seen
-Mix in white and peanut butter chips
-Mix in pretzels and chips
-Using a tablespoon, measure cookie dough and place heaping rounds onto your lined baking sheet, leaving about 2” of space between cookies as they will spread a tiny bit
-Bake for 10-12 minutes
-Allow to cool on the tray for 2-3 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely
-Store in plastic containers wrapped in foil and/or cling wrap to maintain freshness