Food and Recipes Recipes Santa's Kitchen-Sink Cookies 5.0 (2) 1 Review Keep the kids busy for a while with these fun and easy-to-make cookies. By Southern Living Test Kitchen Southern Living Test Kitchen The Southern Living Test Kitchen has been publishing recipes since 1970, four years after the first issue of Southern Living Magazine appeared on newsstands. The Southern Living Test Kitchen team includes a team of professionals with deep expertise in recipe development, from pastry chefs and grilling experts to nutritionists and dietitians. Together, the team tests and retests, produces, styles, and photographs thousands of recipes each year in the state-of-the-art test kitchen facility located in Birmingham, Alabama. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on December 15, 2021 Print Share Share Tweet Pin Email Active Time: 30 mins Chill Time: 1 hrs Total Time: 2 hrs 35 mins Yield: 3 dozen Jump to recipe Fair warning: Our Santa's Kitchen Sink Cookies are quite addictive. A holiday twist on our family-friendly Kitchen Sink Cookies, these seasonal stunners were sent straight from the North Pole to your door. Santa's Kitchen Sink Cookies are designed to be a great baking project to take on with your kids. These cookies are meant to be versatile and adaptable (after all, they're named after that famed jumble in your kitchen sink). The whole idea is to make use of whatever you've got in the pantry. We love to combine salty and sweet flavors in these cookies—you'll find pretzel pieces, chocolate chips, and marshmallows in ours. For this seasonal variety, we like to add red and green M&Ms for a festive touch (if you can't find Christmas M&M's, just use original, and if you have the time, pick out the red and green). One smart tip from our Test Kitchen: Folding in the mix-ins with a spoon versus beating them with a mixer prevents the M&Ms from cracking, the marshmallows from being spread and losing their shape, and the pretzels from breaking into smaller pieces. This dough also benefits from an overnight rest before baking. While we adore this recipe as-is, it's completely customizable. If you want to up the salt factor, add in crushed potato chips. For a sweeter flavor, throw in some raisins. It's entirely up to you. We do recommend topping these Santa's Kitchen Sink Cookies with a sprinkle of sea salt after baking, which adds a touch of elegance and rounds out all the flavors. We can guarantee that these flavor-bombs will automatically win your cookie swap. Ingredients 1 ¼ cups unsalted butter, softened 1 ¼ cups packed dark brown sugar 1 cup granulated sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 large eggs 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 ¾ cups bleached cake flour (such as Swans Down) 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon kosher salt 1 cup red and green candy-coated chocolate pieces (such as M&M'S) 1 cup miniature pretzel twists, broken into pieces ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips ½ cup miniature marshmallows Flaky sea salt Directions Beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in vanilla until combined. Beat in eggs 1 at a time on medium-low speed until just combined, about 20 seconds. Whisk together all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt in a medium bowl until combined. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating on low speed until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add candy-coated chocolate pieces, pretzels, chocolate chips, and marshmallows; fold into dough using a rubber spatula. Cover; chill at least 1 hour or up to overnight (8 hours). Preheat oven to 400°F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove dough from refrigerator, and unwrap. Scoop 12 dough balls using a 2-inch cookie scoop (about 3 tablespoons each), and arrange 2 inches apart on 1 prepared baking sheet. (Return remaining dough in bowl to refrigerator until ready to bake.) Bake until edges are golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven; immediately sprinkle with sea salt. Cool on baking sheet 5 minutes. Transfer to wire racks; cool cookies completely, about 20 minutes. Repeat procedure twice with remaining dough. Greg DuPree; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis Tips for Making Santa's Kitchen-Sink Cookies with Kids: Using a spatula, your kids can fold all the goodies into the cookie dough; add 1/3 of the mix-ins to start, then let the kids take turns gently mixing with the spatula, progressively adding the remaining mix-ins. If you're missing one of the mix-ins, feel free to get creative with whatever's in your pantry. Learn more. Print