Copycat Panera Kitchen Sink Cookies
Prep Time
15 mins
Panera kitchen sink cookies are sensationally soft and packed with pretzel pieces, chocolate chips, and chewy caramel. A beautiful balance of salty and sweet, these cookies are super easy and delicious.
Course:
Dessert
Cuisine:
American
Keyword:
kitchen sink cookies, panera copycat cookie recipe
Servings: 24 large cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks divided
- 1 ½ cup milk chocolate chips divided
- 1 ½ cup coarsely crushed pretzels divided
- 1 ½ cup chopped pecans divided
- 1 cup Werther’s SOFT caramels cut in half
- Flaky sea salt optional
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
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In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars together, with an electric mixer, until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.
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Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add vanilla and combine.
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Add flour, baking soda, and salt and mix until just combined.
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Add in 1 cup each of the chocolate chunks, chips, pretzels, and pecans, saving the extra ½ cup to add after baking. Fold in by hand until combined.
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Scoop about 2 Tablespoons for each cookie, and place about 2” apart on the cookie sheet.
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Place ½ of the SOFT caramel on the top of each cookie, and cover with about 1 teaspoon of dough.
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Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are lightly browned.
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Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven, press additional chunks, chips, pretzels, and pecans into the tops of the cookies. Let cool on pans for at least 5 minutes. Transfer to a rack to completely cool.
Recipe Notes
Be sure your butter is room temperature but is on the cooler side. If the butter is too warm the cookies will spread significantly more. I found that removing the butter from the refrigerator, cutting it into pieces, waiting about 5-10 minutes, and then mixing the sugar in was enough time for it to soften.
Using good-quality butter is important in this recipe. The cookies in the first 3 batches were made with store-brand butter. Although this might have a good result in some recipes, these butters may contain more water than a more expensive name brand. The result, even with chilling the dough and adding cornstarch, was a cookie that looked like a puddle of dough. The more expensive butter produced a thicker cookie.