Anything Cookies {One Dough, Endless Possibilities}

Add {nearly} Anything Cookies

This simple, buttery all-purpose cookie dough can handle pretty much anything you want to throw at it. The chocolate or vanilla dough mixes up in about 5 minutes. After that, toss in anything you like, or anything you have, in whatever combination strikes your fancy. Chocolate, peanut butter or butterscotch chips, roasted nuts, chopped candies, shredded coconut, pretzels, oatmeal, dried fruit, sprinkles, chopped cookies, graham crackers, mini marshmallows… This one cookie dough is all you need for any kind of cookie you’re craving right now.

It’s the middle of the afternoon or late at night and you’re rummaging around in the kitchen for something sweet, willing something delicious and freshly baked to magically appear in front of you. We’ve all been there. And, it is exactly for occasions such as this that this recipe exists.

The dough takes about 5 minutes to mix up and will happily accept as much or as little of any mix-ins you happen to have on hand. All you have to do is decide if you want a chocolate or vanilla cookie base, then stir in anything you like. 

Craving something salty-sweet? Toss in a few handfuls of roasted, salted nuts or salty pretzels. 

In desperate need of copious amounts of chocolate? Add a few tablespoons of cocoa powder and then stir in a ridiculous amount of chocolate chips.

Longing for the comfort of oatmeal raisin? No problem.

Want to let the kids go crazy with sprinkles? Let them!

Working with a pantry that looks something like…  Two half eaten packages of easter candy, an open bag of peanut butter chips and another of mini chocolate chips, a half eaten bag of pretzels, about 30 almonds and a jar of peanuts you thought you’d use to make something-or-other but never did, some toasted coconut leftover from last week’s curry, three Oreo cookies, and a nearly empty jar of Nutella? Dump it all in there, baby. I’m telling you. Anything goes with these cookies.

The kind of cookies that are best slightly under-baked. 

When it comes to cookies that are stuffed with delicious mix-ins, my preference is for them to be quite large. With large cookies, you have a much better chance that each one will have a nice distribution of all the delicious things you stirred into the dough. But, that’s just me. You should make these whatever size you like, just watch them as they bake and remove them from the oven when they are slightly underdone in the middle. Trust me on this. If you’re looking for a slightly gooey, soft cookie center, under baking them a bit is the way to go. 

The recipe calls for baking generous golf balls sized mounds of dough for 10-11 minutes. If you’re baking even larger cookies, you’ll probably need to bake them for a couple minutes longer. If baking smaller cookies, take them from the oven sooner. Essentially, you’re looking for cookies that are set and a bit golden around the edges, but still soft looking in the middle. When unsure, err on the side of under-baked. 

The amount of mix-ins is up to you and should depend on what you’re adding.

In the vanilla cookies you see pictured here, I added a total of about 5 cups of mix-ins: a couple cups of pretzels, 1 cup each of dark chocolate chips and heath bar candy pieces, and a cup or two of roasted, salted almonds. In the chocolate cookies pictured here, I only added about 2 cups of dark chocolate chips.

The dough itself will accept a large volume of mix-ins. But, how much you add should depend on what you’re adding. 5 cups of chocolate chips would make for extremely sweet cookies. Sometimes – and I don’t say this lightly – there really is such thing as too much chocolate. Likewise, if you’re only adding crushed Oreos, or chopped peanut butter cups, adding more than 2 cups is likely to result in cookies that are waaaaay too sweet.

However if you’re adding in a mixture of salty and sweet items, like oatmeal, raisins, white chocolate chips, and salted almonds, 5 cups total should be about right. Just let your personal tastes, preferences, and common sense guide you.

Other popular cookie recipes you might like:

• New York Black and White Cookies
• Perfectly Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Soft, Chewy Vanilla Sugar Cookies
• Skillet Cookie with Chocolate Chips and Oatmeal
• Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

If you give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, or take a picture and tag it #ofbatteranddough on Instagram.

Happy baking!

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Anything Cookies {One Dough, Endless Possibilities}

Yield: 30 large cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

This simple, buttery all-purpose cookie dough can handle pretty much anything you want to throw at it. The chocolate or vanilla dough mixes up in about 5 minutes. After that, toss in anything you like, or anything you have, in whatever combination strikes your fancy. Chocolate, peanut butter or butterscotch chips, roasted nuts, chopped candies, shredded coconut, pretzels, oatmeal, dried fruit, sprinkles, chopped cookies, graham crackers, mini marshmallows... This one cookie dough is all you need for any kind of cookie you're craving right now.

Print

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 6 tbsp cocoa powder (*Use ONLY if making chocolate cookie dough)
• 1 cup salted butter, melted and at room temperature
• 1 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
• 3/4 cup white (granulated) sugar
• 2 large eggs + 1 or 2 large egg yolks (*If making vanilla cookie dough, use 1 extra yolk. If making chocolate cookie dough, use 2 extra egg yolks.)
• 3 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract (optional, but delicious in both vanilla and chocolate cookie dough)
• Approximately 3-5 cups of anything you like. *Suggested mix-ins listed above and below in the notes.

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Add the flour, salt, and baking soda (and cocoa powder, if making chocolate cookies) to a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
3. Add the melted butter and both sugars to a seperate bowl and beat with an elecric mixer until lightened in color and fluffy - about 2 minutes.
4. Add the eggs and egg yolk(s) to the butter-sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition to fully incorporate each egg. Beat in the vanilla and almond extract (if using).
5. Stir in the dry ingredients, stirring just long enough to blend. Stir in add any other additions.
6. Plop the dough onto the parchment lined baking sheet in balls that are about the size of a golf ball (a generous size golf ball), spacing them at least 3 inches apart.
7. Bake for 10-11 minutes, removing them from the oven when they look set but still slightly underdone in the center. Let cool for at least 5-6 minutes before removing them from the cookie sheet to a wire rack to cool completely.

The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 week.

Notes

• You can pretty much add anything to this cookie dough that sounds good to you. Suggestions: White, dark or milk chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, shredded coconut, any kind of nuts (preferrably roasted and salted), heath bar bits, any kind of chopped or crushed candy, sprinkles, pretzles, oatmeal, raisins, dried fruit, cookies or grahm crackers.

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• 
  Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Commercial Large Classic Cookie Sheet

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 30 Serving Size: 1 large cookie
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 131Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 216mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 0gSugar: 6gProtein: 2g

*Nutrition information calculated without mix ins.