Kitchen Sink Cookies

A couple years ago I visted NYC with my BFF.  We went on a food tour in Greenwich Village and came across this little bakery called Amy's Bread.  They had a location at the Chelsea Market too.  Of course we had to sample something from the shop since everything looked so good and we were told that Amy's is one of NYC's best.  Months later I came across her cookbook and decided it was kismet.  Must have cookbook.

I needed a recipe for my holiday cookie exchange and remembered that I had this special cookbook.  Landing on "Kitchen Sink Cookies", it seemed like a fun recipe that I could play around with for the holidays. 

Recipe (with a few of my own tweeks)

Kitchen Sink Cookies

1 2/3 c. Unbleached all-purpose flour
2 ¼ c. Old-fashioned rolled oats

1 ¼ tsp. baking soda

¾ tsp kosher salt

2 large eggs

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

1/3 c. chocolate chips

1/3 c. white chocolate chips (or chunks)
1/3 c. dried berries (you can also use cranberries. Amy’s recipe suggested raisins but I’m not a fan of raisins.)

1/3 c. walnuts (Amy’s recipe suggests pecans but I had walnuts on hand. Still yummy.)

¼ c. sweetened baked coconut

1 c. unsalted butter, slightly softened

½ c., firmly packed dark brown sugar

½ c. sugar

1. Position one rack in the top third of the oven, one rack in the bottom third of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the cookie sheets with baking parchment paper.

2. In a bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking soda, and salt, and whisk together. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla. In another larger bowl, add the 2 chocolates, dried berries, nuts, and coconut. Toss gently to combine.

3. In another bowl, using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars on medium speed for 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl frequently. Add the eggs and vanilla, mixing until everything is well combined.

4. With the mixer on medium low speed, add the flour mixture in stages. Mix only until everything is well combined, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl frequently. There should not be any pockets of dry flour left in the dough. This dough will be very stiff. It will be easier at this point to transfer it to a larger mixing bowl, adding the chocolate mixture and folding these last ingredients in by hand with a wooden spoon until they are evenly distributed.

5. Using a large soup spoon, a metal ice cream scoop, or your clean hands moistened with water, scoop out big balls of dough, placing 6 balls on each prepared cookie sheet. Roll the dough into round balls. Press down firmly to flatten them into ¾ inch thick disks. They will spread a moderate amount during baking. Bake the cookies for about 6 min. rotating the cookie sheets halfway through the baking time. They should be golden brown and just barely set in the center. They should be soft, but be careful not to under bake them or they’ll be doughy and fall apart easily.

6. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 5 min. then move them to a rack and cool completely before storing.

My tip:
Used my tiny ice cream scooper to make the rounded balls of dough. Cookies tend to be consistent in size.