I finally made them after Christmas and they were a big hit. I call them garbage cookies because I basically took the left overs from my holiday baking ingredients and made them into a cookie.
These cookies can be made with anything really but my favorite version (I have made them more than once since Christmas...) has pretzel M&M's, Heath bar toffee pieces and Ghiradelli's dark chocolate chunks. You may be able to tell from the red and green that I used M&M's from the Target Christmas clearance aisle : )
Here is the extremely easy and extremely delicious recipe.
Food Network Inspired Garbage Cookies
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1 to 2 cups of pretzel M&M's (I used most of the bag)
- 1 cup dark/bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks (I just used the rest of the bag)
- 1 cup of toffee pieces (again, I just used what I had left in the bag)
- Cream butter and both sugars. I used my stand mixer but you could use a hand one too.
- Beat until light and fluffy.
- Add salt, vanilla and eggs. Beat until well combined.
- Add in the pretzel M&M's. Mix (in stand mixer with paddle attachment, I wouldn't try with a hand beater) to slightly crush M&M's.
- Slowly add in flour and baking soda on low speed until just combined.
- Stir in (by hand) the chocolate and the toffee pieces.
- I used a cookie scoop to make tablespoon sized balls and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (toffee can get really sticky and make a huge mess if you don't use parchment)
- Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
Let them cool before transferring them to a wire rack.
Enjoy!
