As the saying goes, Cooking is an Art – Baking is a Science.

Cooking can be very forgiving. Baking requires the right ratio of flour, eggs, fat, sugar, and leavening.  It helps to have a bit of understanding of what the ingredients do.  Flour and eggs – the proteins – provide the structure.  Fat and sugar provide the tenderness and moisture.  Too much or too little of anything can create a tough or dry product.  Too much leavening can cause things to expand and collapse, too little and they won’t rise.  Proper proportions.

Lard is one of the best tenderizers.  It also has a horrible reputation.  It really does make a light, tender, and flaky pie crust.  Butter works well but it needs to be whipped – and needs an emulsifier such as eggs.  Olive oil has emulsifiers in it and works well in many cake recipes.  But don’t run out and start making cakes with olive oil and think you’re eating healthy.  It’s still a  cake.

Science.  Chemistry.  Math.  There’s more to baking than merely slicing the cookie dough roll.

This was a bit of a trial-and-error recipe developed over time.  I wanted a cookie that had everything I could think of in it, and was also crisp but not dry.  Just soft enough without being an under-baked Mrs. Field’s.  I think it came out rather well.  There are 4 cups of add-ins – the nuts, chips, and raisins.  You can vary these and mix and match things to what you have on hand and increase it up to about 5 cups, total.  After that, there’s not much dough to hold everything in place.

Everything But The Kitchen Sink Cookies

  • 2 cubes butter (8 oz)
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 1 cup chopped nuts
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 2 cups chocolate chips
  • 1 cup coconut

Cream butter and peanut butter.  Add sugars and beat until light, then add the eggs one at a time.  Add the flour, cocoa, and baking soda, and mix well. Then add the rolled oats.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients.  Mix well.

Use a 1/4 cup scoop and scoop out cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet. (I always line my sheets with parchment!)  Press down slightly with damp fingers.

Bake at 350° for about 20 minutes.

I always use a scoop to dish out the cookies.  It is infinitely easier than anything else and makes for uniform-sized cookies that bake evenly.

The recipe makes about 3 dozen large cookies.