Junk Food Cookies

Whether you like sweet or salty, these cookies do the trick. Inspired by my favorite ice cream, Ben & Jerry's Late Night Snack (and an episode of Tough Cookies), I decided to make the ultimate in American snacking- a cookie with chocolate, potato chips and pretzels. 

These cookies have the advantage of me not feeling disgusting for eating an entire pint of ice cream.

Junk Food Cookies

Modified from the Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Servings: 12 cookies

Time: 20 minutes

1 cup and 2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 stick of butter, softened

6 tbsp granulated sugar

6 tbsp brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks

1/2 cup potato chips

1/2 cup pretzels

The best part about baking. Dibs!

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Mix the flour, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl.
3. Combine the butter, sugars and vanilla extract in a mixer at low to medium speed until smooth. 
4. Add the egg and mix until well incorporated.
5. Slowly add the flour mixture at low speed.
6. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.
7. Crush the chips and pretzels in a plastic bag.
8. Spoon the cookie dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. 
9. Sprinkle the chip and pretzel mixture onto the cookies.
10. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
11. Let sit on the baking sheet for another 1-2 minutes then remove to finish cooling.

These cookies were fantastic, but they spread too much during the baking process. This meant that the salty parts weren't nearly concentrated enough to give the full effect I was intending. The likely culprits causing the spreading were that I halved the normal amount of baking soda to prevent the cookies from becoming too cakey and that I cooked them at a lower temperature than the usual 375.

It's definitely something I'll be trying again in the future. For the next time, I am debating whether or not the chips and pretzels should be completely pulverized or left in decently sized chunks to maximize taste.  Another great addition that could easily be done to make these a little more decadent would be to add some caramel. What do y'all think?