Kitchen Sink Cookies

These brown butter kitchen sink cookies are thick and chewy, packed with chocolate, salted caramel, coconut, and crunchy pretzels—bakery-style too.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 8

Chill Time 2

Servings regular-sized cookies (18 bakery-sized cookies)

Calories 167kcal

Author Kathleen

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (180g) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (90g) bread flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup + 3 tablespoons (268g) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons powdered milk
3/4 cup (165g) brown sugar
1/2 cup (110g) granulated sugar
2 eggs room temperature
2 egg yolks room temperature
1 tablespoon coconut emulsion or vanilla
2 teaspoons corn syrup
1/2 cup sweetened coconut shredded
3/4 cup (127.5g) Guittard 46% chocolate chips
3/4 cup (127.5g) Trader Joe's salted caramel chips or caramel bits
1/2 cup pretzels chopped
Plus extra chocolate chips and caramel chips for cookie tops after baking
flake salt

Instructions

Mix the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, bread flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and kosher salt. Set aside.
Brown the butter: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. When entirely melted, sprinkle in the powdered milk and stir until evenly coated. Use the spatula to break up the large pieces of powdered milk solids. Keep stirring as the milk solids toast, scraping the bottom and sides often. Once they’re a pecan brown color, remove from the heat right away and pour everything (butter and browned bits) into a heatproof bowl. Set aside to cool slightly.
Add the sugars and wet ingredients: Stir the brown sugar and granulated sugar into the hot butter until smooth. Let it cool until only slightly warm, then add the eggs, egg yolks, coconut emulsion, and corn syrup. Stir vigorously until the mixture thickens slightly and is thoroughly blended.
Combine wet and dry mixtures: Add the flour mixture, coconut, chocolate chips, salted caramel chips, and pretzels to the wet ingredients all at once. Fold with a spatula just until you no longer see dry flour. Stop mixing early—overworking the dough will toughen it.
Shape and chill the dough: Scoop dough into 40–41g portions (#40 cookie scoop) and roll into balls. (See FAQ for making bakery-sized cookies.) The dough may feel soft and slightly greasy; the butter needs to chill. Chill the dough for at least 2 hours, up to 48 hours, before baking to firm up and develop flavor.
Bake: Preheat the oven to 370°F (188ºC) and line baking sheets with parchment or a silicone baking mat. Place the dough balls several inches apart (6-8 per baking sheet) and bake for about 7-8 minutes, until the tops look dry (yet domed and uncooked centers) and the edges are lightly browned. Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven, use a round cookie cutter or a spatula to round them. Add chocolate chips and caramel chips to the top of the cookies as needed. Sprinkle with flake salt.
Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet as they finish baking.

Notes

Cool the browned butter on purpose. Butter that’s too hot can scramble eggs and create greasy dough, leading to excessive spread.
Mix just until combined. Once the dry ingredients go in, stop mixing as soon as the flour disappears—overmixing can toughen cookies.
Add pretzels last. Fold pretzels in gently at the end so you keep chunky, crunchy pieces instead of salty “dust.”
Scoop before chilling. Portioning is easier while the dough is soft. Chilled dough firms up fast and becomes harder to scoop cleanly.
Chill for thickness and flavor. Chilling firms butter and hydrates flour, preventing thin cookies and deepening flavor—overnight is best.
Use a cool baking sheet every batch. Warm pans melt dough immediately and cause overspread. Rotate pans or let pans cool completely.
Trust the look, not the clock. Pull cookies when edges are set and centers look slightly underdone—they finish setting as they cool.
Round them while warm. A quick swirl with a cutter gives that thick, bakery-style shape.

Nutrition