Everything-but-the-Kitchen-Sink Cookies

So finally, here is recipe #3. It's been crazy here recently with me baking up a storm, what with preparing for two birthdays as well as the upcoming Daring Bakers Challenge. But of course, I always love an excuse to bake! I came across this recipe when I was actually just looking for a spice cookie recipe. I came to a conclusion that there must not really be any spice cookies worthwhile that didn't contain molasses in it, something I didn't have, so gave up on it. But the search led me to this cookie, and I'm very happy it did! I've seen recipes for "Everything" cookies before, but my picky-eating-ness would always spot multiple things in the recipe that I wasn't a fan of. Either that, or I found that the recipe just didn't have enough ingredients in them to warrant being called "Everything-but-the-Kitchen-Sink." But this recipe on Allrecipes sounded great, with a lot of things I like, from everything to oatmeal and cornflakes to walnuts and chocolate chips, had great reviews, and used spices that I had been wanting to use.

The everything! (Also, apologies for all the brand-name dropping. It wasn't intended.)

These cookies have great flavor and all of the elements work really well. The poster of the recipe said that by underbaking the cookies slightly would yield a nice chewy cookie, and she was right. The gooeyness firms up when you let them cool and you're left with a chewy center, but still a nice crunch from the ingredients. I do have to admit that I left out the coconut since I'm usually not a fan, but I think it'd work really well in this cookie and I'd be willing to give it a try. I would advise, however, to maybe cut down on the sugar slightly or add less chocolate chips. My cookies turned out quite sweet, even for someone with a monster sweet tooth like me. I also might try them at some point without any spices, as I think they'd be great too. But I'd definitely suggest trying the recipe as is first, since it really is a great recipe.

Everything-but-the-Kitchen-Sink Cookies (from Allrecipes)
Makes about 4-5 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground mace (I didn't have this, so I substituted with just an extra pinch of nutmeg)
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup cornflakes cereal, crumbled (I used frosted cornflakes so they wouldn't get soggy in the cookie dough)
• 3 cups rolled oats (I used quick-cooking, since that's all I had)
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut (I omitted)
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, and cloves; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in milk and vanilla. Gradually mix in the sifted ingredients until well blended. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the cornflakes, oats, coconut, chocolate chips, and walnuts. (I just used my mixer on the lowest speed.) Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls, and place 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets; flatten slightly. (I refrigerated my cookie dough over night.)
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. (I baked my refrigerated dough for 10 minutes, so I'd suggest baking unrefrigerated dough for only 8.)