Copycat Panera Kitchen Sink Cookie

Kitchen sink cookies are always a crowd pleaser, especially with sweet and salty lovers. Panera’s kitchen sink cookies are a particularly nice variation, with semi-sweet chocolate chunks, chopped milk chocolate, pretzels, caramel bits, and a sprinkling of sea salt.

You’ll want to grind your pretzels into flour/tiny bits, so they really incorporate into the dough, giving it a distinctive flavor and texture like Panera’s cookie. 

I used a Hershey bar for my milk chocolate, and chewy caramels from the baking aisle next to the chocolate chips. Next time I’ll probably try making these with one of my personal favorite additions, Heath toffee bits. 

Ingredients:

• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups AP flour
• ½ Tbsp cornstarch
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ¼ cup chopped milk chocolate (a 1.55oz Hershey bar was perfect)
• ½ cup crushed pretzels
• ¼ cup caramel bits
• Sea salt

Preparation time: 20 minutes, +4-24 hours refrigeration
Baking time: 11-14 minutes 
Cooling time: 10 minutes on the sheet pan, plus at least 20 more on a cooling rack. 
Makes: 8 Panera-sized cookies

Making the Cookie:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment.

Cream butter and sugars together.

Add egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly.

Measure dry ingredients together.

Add to butter and egg mixture and mix until just combined.

Fold chocolate chips and chopped chocolate into the batter.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

Form dough into 8 balls, well-spaced between 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. 

Press the dough balls into your bowl of caramel bits, and then sprinkle with sea salt. 

Bake for 11-14 minutes, removing when the cookies are just browning around the edge and just set on top to maintain a gooey center. For crisper cookies, bake for an additional 3-5 minutes. 

Let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing and allow to cool on a cooling rack for another 20 minutes. 

Tips and Tricks:

• You’ll have better luck baking these 3 or 4 to a tray. 
• An ice cream scoop works great for scooping balls of refrigerated dough.
• You can try folding the caramel bits into the dough rather than topping, but it was my experience that resulted in burnt bits on the bottoms, as well as generally darker bottoms.
• You can leave the cornstarch out, but it helps the cookies not to spread as much.
• If your cookies still spread more than you would like, particularly if they get thin crispy edges, you can use the edge of a bowl to nudge them back together.
• Can keep in an airtight container on the counter 3-4 days, in the fridge for 1 week, and the freezer for one month. 

Variations:

• The beauty of kitchen sink cookies is you can put a little bit of everything in them. I love making these when I have a lot of odds and ends leftover from projects/parties (for instance, potato chips, M&Ms, nuts, etc).
• If substituting potato chips, leave the chips in slightly larger pieces, and add an additional ¼ cup of AP flour.
• If you don’t have a convection oven, you’ll have more consistent baking if you bake at a smaller size for a little less time.
• If you prefer a crisper cookie, you can bake these for 3-5 more minutes.