Santa’s Favorite Cookies (Sweet & Salty!) 🥨🍫
These Christmas Kitchen Sink Cookies (often lovingly called “Santa’s Trash Cookies”) are the ultimate sweet and salty holiday mashup.
Packed with crushed pretzels, holiday M&Ms, white chocolate chips, and festive sprinkles, every bite offers a satisfying crunch and chewy texture.
The base is a thick, buttery vanilla dough that is sturdy enough to hold “everything but the kitchen sink.”
They are the perfect way to clear out your baking pantry and create a fun, colorful treat that kids and adults adore.
Here is the recipe and the step-by-step guide to making these fully loaded cookies.
🍪 The Chewy Cookie Base
1 cup (227g) Unsalted butter, softened (cool room temperature)
1 cup (200g) Packed light brown sugar (essential for chewiness)
½ cup (100g) Granulated white sugar
1 large Egg (room temperature)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
2 ½ cups (310g) All-purpose flour
1 tsp Baking soda
½ tsp Baking powder
½ tsp Salt
🥨 The “Kitchen Sink” Mix-Ins
½ cup Pretzels, roughly chopped (keep some pieces chunky for crunch)
½ cup Holiday M&Ms (Red and Green)
½ cup White Chocolate Chips
2 tbsp Holiday Sprinkles (Jimmies work best)
Optional: ½ cup crushed potato chips for extra saltiness!
👩🍳 Baking & Assembly Steps:
Cream the Butter: In a large bowl, beat the softened butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Scrape down the bowl.
Add Wet Ingredients: Add the egg and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until smooth and creamy.
Add Dry Ingredients: Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. Gradually add to the wet mixture on low speed. Mix just until the flour streaks disappear. Do not overmix, or the cookies will be tough.
Fold in the Goodies: Use a sturdy spatula to gently fold in the crushed pretzels, M&Ms, white chocolate chips, and sprinkles. Reserve a few pieces of each for topping.
Scoop and Top: Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Scoop large mounds of dough (about 3 tablespoons each) onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Pro Tip: Press a few extra pretzels and M&Ms onto the top of each dough ball before baking for that professional bakery look.
Bake: Bake for 10–12 minutes. The edges should be golden brown, but the centers should still look slightly soft and underbaked.
Cool: Let them cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. They will deflate slightly and firm up, creating a chewy texture.