Kitchen Sink Christmas Cookies Recipe: salty-sweet, chewy-center cookies packed with pretzels, potato chips, toffee bits, chocolate chips, and red-green candies. If you crave a festive cookie for holiday trays, cookie swaps, or last-minute gifting, this batch suits you and takes about 20 minutes prep, 12 minutes bake, and 45 minutes total. I bake them while my dog guards the cooling rack like a tiny cookie bouncer.
Why You Should Try This Kitchen Sink Christmas Cookies Recipe
This Kitchen Sink Christmas Cookies Recipe delivers ridiculous texture and flavor in every bite. Crisp edges, soft middles, melty chocolate, and a pop of salt make that second cookie feel inevitable. Your inner snack goblin will cheer.
You can customize the mix-ins to match your pantry or your party theme. Toss in M&M’s, pretzels, potato chips, toffee bits, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips, or swap in nuts and coconut. The base dough keeps everything balanced so the cookies never taste too sweet.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- All-purpose flour: 2 1/4 cups (270 g) (spoon and level; King Arthur gives consistent results; swap a 1:1 gluten-free baking blend if needed)
- Baking soda: 1 teaspoon
- Baking powder: 1/2 teaspoon
- Fine sea salt: 1 teaspoon (use 1/2 teaspoon if using salted butter)
- Unsalted butter: 1 cup, softened to cool room temp
- Packed brown sugar: 3/4 cup (light or dark; dark gives deeper caramel notes)
- Granulated sugar: 1/2 cup
- Large eggs: 2, room temp (set in warm water 10 minutes if cold)
- Vanilla extract: 2 teaspoons (use pure for best flavor)
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips: 3/4 cup (Guittard or Ghirardelli melt smoothly)
- Butterscotch chips: 1/2 cup
- Toffee bits: 1/2 cup (Heath Bits O’ Brickle save time)
- Red and green chocolate candies: 3/4 cup
- Mini pretzels, chopped: 1 cup (use gluten-free pretzels if needed)
- Ridged potato chips, lightly crushed: 1 cup (crush to cornflake size, not dust)
- Optional adds: 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut or 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- Optional finish: flaky salt
Pantry shortcuts and swaps:
- Use pre-cut parchment sheets and store-bought toffee bits to speed things up.
- Swap butterscotch chips for peanut butter chips, or use all chocolate chips.
- Keep it nut-free by skipping nuts and doubling pretzels.
Equipment:
- Stand mixer or hand mixer
- Two mixing bowls
- Measuring cups and spoons or a kitchen scale
- Rubber spatula
- Cookie scoop, about 1.5 tablespoons (size 40)
- Two rimmed baking sheets
- Parchment paper or silicone baking mats
- Wire cooling racks
How to Make Kitchen Sink Christmas Cookies
- Prep: 20 minutes
- Cook: 12 minutes per batch
- Total: about 45 minutes
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
- Beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a large bowl on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients to the bowl. Mix on low just until the flour disappears.
- Fold in chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, toffee bits, candies, pretzels, and potato chips. Hold back a small handful of candies and pretzels for topping.
- Chill the dough for 20 minutes for thicker cookies. Skip chilling if you want thinner, craggier edges.
- Scoop dough into 1.5-tablespoon balls and space them 2 inches apart. Press a few extra candies and pretzel bits on top and sprinkle a pinch of flaky salt if you like.
- Bake one sheet at a time for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pan at 8 minutes. Pull the cookies when edges look set and centers look soft and puffed.
- Let the cookies rest on the sheet for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire rack. Press in a couple more candies while warm for that bakery look.
- Repeat with the remaining dough. If the dough warmed up, pop it back in the fridge for a few minutes between bakes.
- For crinkly edges, tap the pan once on the counter right after you pull it from the oven.
Tips & Tricks
- Weigh the flour to 270 g or spoon and level to avoid a dry dough.
- Keep butter at cool room temp; it should dent with a gentle press, not collapse.
- Use room temp eggs so the dough mixes smoothly.
- Chill the dough for thicker cookies; bake right away for thinner, chewier edges.
- Crush potato chips gently; aim for pea-to-cornflake size for texture.
- Save a handful of mix-ins for topping so each cookie looks festive.
- Bake one sheet at a time on the center rack for even heat.
- Pull the cookies while centers look a touch underdone; carryover heat finishes the bake.
- If the dough looks dry, mix in 1 tablespoon milk. If it looks sticky, add 1 to 2 tablespoons flour.
- High altitude: reduce baking soda to 3/4 teaspoon, reduce sugar by 1 tablespoon, and add 1 to 2 tablespoons flour.
What to Serve with Kitchen Sink Christmas Cookies
These cookies shine with hot cocoa, a peppermint mocha, or a cold glass of milk. I also love them with black coffee to balance the sweet and salty crumb. For dessert boards, pair them with gingerbread men, snickerdoodles, and shortbread. For a fun twist, sandwich two cookies around vanilla ice cream and roll the edges in crushed candies.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Refrigerate the dough, covered, for up to 3 days; scoop and bake straight from the fridge. Freeze portioned dough balls on a sheet pan, then store in zip-top bags for up to 3 months; bake from frozen and add 1 to 2 minutes. Store baked cookies in an airtight container at room temp for 4 days; tuck in a slice of sandwich bread to keep them soft. Warm baked cookies in a 300°F oven for 3 to 5 minutes or in the microwave for 8 to 10 seconds.
Nutrition Information
Yield: about 24 cookies. Per cookie estimate: 250 calories, 12 g fat, 33 g carbs, 20 g sugar, 3 g protein, 220 mg sodium. These numbers estimate typical nutrition based on standard ingredients and a 1.5-tablespoon scoop.
Kitchen Sink Christmas Cookies
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to the wet ingredients, mixing just until combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chips, red and green candies, pretzels, toffee bits, white chocolate chips, and sprinkles.
- Drop tablespoonfuls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving space between each cookie.
- Bake for 10–12 minutes or until the edges are golden but the centers are still soft.
- Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.