Craving something salty-sweet and also only have 7 pretzels, a mostly-eaten bag of chips, a handful of m&ms, and a random almost-empty bag of chocolate chips? I got you. These are THE BEST kitchen sink cookie bars packed with all the best salty and sweet snacks. The cookie bars stay nice and soft, but have plenty of crunch-factor from all of the mix ins.
What makes these kitchen sink cookie bars THE BEST?
- Easy & Adaptable. These bars are even more simple than whipping up a batch of cookies because there’s no scooping dough and no chill time – just throw it in the pan and bake. They’re also adaptable. Meaning you can use whatever mix-ins you like, you just need about 2 cups total of whatever mix you prefer.
- Sweet & Salty. If you ask me, sweet and salty is the ultimate combo when it comes to dessert so these bars really hit that nail on the head if that’s your thing! However, if not you can always do all sweet mix-ins and no salty snacks!
- Soft & Chewy. Thanks to a bit of coconut oil, these bars stay nice and gooey in the center with edges that are slightly crisp (not crunchy!) But don’t worry, you won’t taste the coconut.
How to make Kitchen Sink Cookie Bars
Preheat your oven to 350 and line an 8 inch square pan with parchment paper. Leave a bit of an overhang of parchment so that you can easily lift the bars from the pan after baking. Gather your ingredients and 2 total cups of the mix-ins of your choice. I used chocolate chips, m&ms, mini pretzels, crinkled potato chips, pistachios, and toffee bits.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the melted butter, melted coconut oil, granulated sugar, and dark brown sugar until well combined. Next, add the egg and vanilla and whisk until smooth and glossy as pictured below.
Add in the flour and baking soda and mix until just combined, with a few streaks of flour remaining. There’s no need to add extra salt here because of the salty mix-ins. Save some of the mix-ins to sprinkle on top, then fold in the chocolate chips, toffee, pistachios, and m&ms. Finally, carefully fold in the pretzels and chips trying not to break them up too much.
Press the dough into your prepared pan in an even layer and sprinkle with the extra mix ins. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, then allow to cool mostly before removing from the pan and slicing into bars.
Kitchen Sink Cookie Bars FAQs
- Can I use a stand or hand mixer instead? Yes. This recipe can be made as instructed in this post, or with a hand or stand mixer. If using a mixer, just be sure not to over mix the dough once the flour has been added.
- Can these bars be made gluten free? Yes. You should have no problem making this recipe gluten free by swapping out the all purpose flour for a gluten free 1 to 1 flour. Also, be sure all of your chosen mix ins are gluten free!
- What other mix-ins could I use? Any nuts – walnuts, sliced almonds, peanuts, or cashews would be great! Also, mini peanut butter cups, white chocolate chips, freeze dried fruit, or little chocolate covered caramels! Really anything should work fine as long as you have 2 cups total.
- How long will these kitchen sink cookie bars keep? You can leave these covered at room temperature for up to a week!
- Can I make ahead/freeze this recipe? You should be able to make the dough ahead of time and freeze it for up to 3 months before baking, but I haven’t tested that to be sure. If I were to freeze this recipe I’d leave out the pretzels and potato chips and just put those on top right before baking to avoid them getting soggy.
Kitchen Sink Cookie Bars
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 25 min
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 16 Cookie Bars 1x
Description
Soft and chewy cookie bars packed with all of the best sweet and salty mix-ins!
Ingredients
- 1/2 C (113 g) Salted Butter, melted
- 1/4 C (50 g) Melted Coconut Oil
- 1/2 C (110 g) Dark Brown Sugar
- 1/2 C (110 g) Granulated Sugar
- 1 Lg Egg, at room temperature
- 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1 3/4 C (225 g) All Purpose Flour
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 2 C Mix-ins of your choice (chocolate chips, pretzels, m&ms, chips, etc)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 and line an 8 inch square pan with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the melted butter, coconut oil, and sugars until well combined.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until the batter becomes smooth and glossy.
- Fold in the flour and baking soda until mostly combined with a few streaks of flour remaining.
- Save some of the mix ins for sprinkling on top, but fold in the rest.
- Press the dough into an even layer into the prepared pan and top with extra mix ins.
- Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, then let cool mostly before removing from pan and slicing into bars.
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