I recently made white chocolate macadamia nut cookies (recipe soon!), and the recipe called for 2 cups of chocolate chips. I carefully measured 2 cups of white chocolate chips… and was left with a sad little quarter cup left in the bag.
My pantry is overflowing with similar crumbled bags with just a smidgen of their contents left.
- Just under a 1/2 cup of butterscotch chips (a.k.a. not enough to make butterscotch bars)
- A rolled up bag of potato chips from my dad’s lunch at Subway.
- The bottom half of a roll of Ritz crackers (no longer crunchy).
- A handful of craisins leftover from my cranberry bliss bars.
- A half eaten box of animal crackers
The list goes on and on… and my kitchen cabinet seems to get smaller and smaller. There’s nothing I hate more than wasting perfectly good ingredients… but I’ve also never experienced frustration quite like having no room to put the sugar away when my hands are covered in butter. Behold the compost cookie.
Throw all of your potato chips, corn chips, cereals, candies, crackers, and all other snack scraps into this cookie. Sounds gross perhaps… but trust me on this one, these are delicious! The serendipitously sweet and salty combination is both sophisticated and snacky. My friend Emelia and I happily munched on these before a concert a few weeks ago — it sure beat Chex-Mix. (and that’s saying a lot, because I adore Chex-Mix…)
Plus the word “compost” makes me feel so good about myself, like I’m saving the world, one cookie at a time. So raid your kitchen cabinet and save the world today!
With love,
Erica
Ingredients
Ingredients:
1 cup butter (that’s two sticks, unsalted)
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsps Kosher salt
1 1/2 cups your favorite baking ingredients (options: chocolate chips, Raisenettes, Rollos, Cocoa Krispies)
1 1/2 cups your favorite snack foods (chips, pretzels, etc.)
In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars together for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add in the honey and mix to combine. Add in the egg and vanilla, mix and scrape down the bowl as necessary just until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. Add dry ingredients mix to the butter mix. Mix in the sweet and salty add-ins of your choice.
DO NOT BAKE your cookies from room temperature or they will not hold their shape. Pop in the fridge for at least an hour. Heat the oven to 400 F. Roll cookies into large, tablespoon-sized balls and place on a baking sheet. Bake 9 to 11 minutes. While in the oven, the cookies will puff, crackle and spread. At 9 minutes, the cookies should be browned on the edges and just beginning to brown towards the center. Leave the cookies in the oven for the additional minutes if these colors don’t match up and your cookies still seem pale and doughy on the surface.
Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pan before transferring to a plate or an airtight container or tin for storage. At room temp, they’ll keep five days