Kitchen Sink Cookies

Man, it's been such a long time since I wrote a real post... I think that with everything that has been going on in my life, the last thing I wanted to do was cook at all. For me, that's really saying a lot! I'm the type of person who finds cooking and baking to be extremely relaxing and therapeutic. Well, I finally started to feel a bit of motivation to bake again.

I actually made an almond cake last week, but it sort of cracked coming out of the pan and was quickly devoured, so I never took pictures. And now, I made these delicious cookies. I call them kitchen sink cookies because they contain everything but the kitchen sink! I guess I was feeling a bit gluttonous, but they turned out so good. These cookies are chock full of oats, chocolate chips, coconut, walnuts and raisins. Mmm... Just heaven in every bite!

Ingredients:

Butter - 1 cup, softened to room temperature
Brown sugar - 3/4 cup, firmly packed
Cane sugar - 1/2 cup (Feel free to use regular sugar instead. Use 3/4 cup for sweet cookies)
Eggs - 2, at room temperature
Baking Powder - 2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tbsp
Milk - 1 tbsp
White whole wheat flour (or all purpose flour) - 1 1/2 cups
All purpose flour - 3/4 cup
Rolled oats (regular or quick cooking) - 2 cups
Semisweet chocolate chips - 1 cup
Raisins - 3/4 cup
Walnuts, chopped - 3/4 cup toasted for 5 minutes at 350 F (until golden)
Sweetened shredded coconut - 3/4 cup toasted for 5-7 minutes at 350 F (until golden)


Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. Beat butter and sugars in stand mixer or using hand mixer until soft and fluffy like whipped cream.

3. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla. Beat to combine well.

4. Now, add in the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir together by hand or on slow speed in stand mixer until just combined. Do not overmix or you risk getting tough cookies.

5. At this point, stir in the oats, chocolate chips, raisins, toasted walnuts, and toasted coconut gently to combine.

6. Drop onto cookie sheets by heaped tablespoons or by using a tablespoon sized scoop (My favorite tool!). Bake at 375 F for 8-10 minutes until the cookies are light golden at the edges and are just set. They will not appear fully cooked, but it's fine. This will result in chewy cookies. For crisper cookies, bake for an additional 1-2 minutes, but be careful not to burn them! Keep in mind that this batter is meant for chewy cookies...



7. Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute. Then, remove to a cooling rack and cool fully.

Enjoy with a tall glass of milk or on their own. Kids will love these too (especially if they like chocolate and raisins).


Update: I'm sending these cookies in to Mansi, of Fun and Food. She's hosting Sugar High Fridays where the theme is Fruit and Nuts. Click here for more info!