Compost Cookies
Whether you call them monster cookies, kitchen sink cookies, everything cookies, or compost cookies… these cookies are a salty sweet dynamo! Just try to resist them.
We have a tradition in our family of making a dish I lovingly call Compost Soup.
Compost Soup happens when I look in the fridge and notice we have a dozen leftover containers piling up that no one is ever going to touch again.
I load all the containers on the counter, start a soup stock of beef broth, garlic, and tomatoes (canned or fresh) then proceed to roughly chop everything in those containers, no matter what it is.
It could be leftover stir fried veggies, brisket, mashed cauliflower, quinoa, kale salad, fried rice, indian curry, you name it.
It ALL goes in the soup.
After a little simmer time, magically, something amazing happens. The beef-tomato-garlic soup base acts as the world’s greatest common denominator and all the flavors meld together.
It tastes great every time, I swear.
I’ve started doing the same things whilst cleaning out my pantry, but I call it Compost Cookies.
I start by making a rich tender cookie dough with Gold Medal Flour and butter, then add coconut and coffee grounds for good measure. Gold Medal Flour is my favorite flour for baking because it’s so light and smooth. It makes the cookies exceptionally tender!
Then I take all the baking chip bags with one handful of chocolate or cinnamon chips, all the salty snacks with just a few crumbs in the bottom of the bag (like pretzels, potato chips, nut mixes, or even chex mix) and dump them into a coffee coconut cookie dough.
Even the scraps at the bottom of your cereal boxes work for this “monster cookies” variation.
The coffee coconut dough, does what the beef-tomato-garlic combination does for the soup.
Magically, the cookies taste amazing no matter what you put in them.
I recently made a batch of Compost Cookies using crumbs from a bag a ranch flavored party mix. I wasn’t sure how they would turn out with the lingering ranch flavor from the snack mix.
But guess what, someone who shall remain nameless couldn’t keep his hands off them and ate no less than SIX in a row.
See?
Trust the coffee-coconut combo. It works wonders.
So how about cleaning out your pantry?
You can make monster cookies and be earth-friendly all at the same time.
Monster Cookies - Compost Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups Gold Medal All Purpose Flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 tablespoon coffee grounds
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- 1 cup baking chips any variety/mixed or M&Ms
- 1 cup roughly crushed Chex Mix chopped pretzels, potato chips, nut mix, or cereal
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Mix the first four dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. Then cream the butter and sugars together with an electric mixer.
- Add the eggs and vanilla to the butter mixture. Then scrape the bowl and slowly mix in the flour mixture. Stir in the remaining ingredients.
- Drop the cookie dough into 1 1/2-tablespoon mounds on the lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 3-4 minutes before moving.
Nutrition
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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Gold Medal Flour. All opinions are my own.
What a delicious way to clean out the pantry – especially after all of the holiday baking! When you call for coffee grounds, do you mean instant coffee or ground beans? It could make a world of difference. Thanks!
Hi Anne, I used ground coffee beans, not instant coffee. So you have the texture and flavor of coffee, but it doesn’t darken down the dough.
I’m so super intrigued by these compost cookies! However, I lack one very special ingredient! I don’t drink coffee! Is there some other magic dust I can substitute that might meld the flavors?
Hmmmmmm. You could try them without and see what you think, but I can’t think of anything to take the place of coffee. Sorry!
Oh my god, these cookies are unreal!
Oh you KNOW I love these!
I am all over these cookies!!! They are SO good, Sommer!
Yum!
What a fun way to use up all of those leftovers. Love this!
These are just too much fun!!!
That is such a fun cookie, my boys would love to get their hand on this recipe. Perfect.
Your photos are spectacular!! And those cookies look so good!!
I have such a weakness for salty and sweet together, so I know I could eat about a dozen of these!
These look fantastic!! :)
Love the name and the cookies look delicious! We have a big giant compost bin so forgive me if it keeps coming to mind – ha ha.
I love loaded cookies! Wish I were eating a couple of these right now!
I’m loving all the goodies in this cookie Sommer!! Pass me a plate and a glass of milk :)
I’m seriously obsessed with compost cookies! I call them everything but the kitchen sink cookies and they ROCK! These look outstanding
What a great name for a cookie – love it! I should make those just for their name alone!
I’ve raised my children on a “kitchen sink” cookie. However these are really a compost version. I must try these. I have many ingredients in the pantry that would love to be included in the mixture!!
Sommer, these look AMAZING!
I wish I had 5 of these right now! I love loaded cookies like these!
These sound great! I love the chex in there! :)
What a fab cookie…need to try that ranch flavor!!!!!
these sound so good! I can’t believe you made some with ranch…I’m intrigued!
I love sweet & salty cookie mix-ins, these look fab!
I love coffee in my cookies, too!
Cute name. Love the crunch factor, Sommer. xo
Just throw it all in there why don’tcha! These are amazing, Sommer! Sign me up…
mmmmm! Tasty cookies girl!
The best kind of cookie! Love it.
I love this idea!! Having a base recipe that you can add anything too is wonderful! My cabinets are always full of the last handful of this and that. :) I can’t wait until “soup season” to try your Compost Soup idea too! Thanks!
Nothing better than a compost cookie! Love the coconut in these.
These cookies look dreamy. We make compost soup when we go camping. Everything in the pot!
I’m with you the name doesn’t matter– just give me, give me!!! :)
Salty sweet combos get me every time. LOVE!!!
Great cookies! I could eat a dozen!
Love these cookies. My kids would scarf these down in a heartbeat.
Mmmmm…these cookies look amazing! I can’t wait to give this recipe a try!
Another fun cookie recipe this morning! I love compost cookies, and could certainly use a pantry clean out!
I LOVE compost cookies!! the coffee grounds, in my opinion, MAKE this cookie!! and the potato chips give the perfect salty/sweet flavor!! yum!
Perfect cookie!!
What a fun cookie, my son would love this!!
These look great — the coffee-coconut combo is intriguing and I love the idea of throwing anything/everything in.
I love compost cookies! I have a monster cookies post on Wednesday that made use of all my odds and ends! I also made the Christina Tosi/Momofuku compost recipe about a year ago with potato chips and coffee grounds! Great cookies Sommer!
I am in love with these cookies! And I think it is cookie Monday:)
I so need to do this. I just cleaned out the pantry and was horrified by the billion packages of stuff with little bits leftover. Thanks for the inspiration.
Your compost soup sounds like my fried rice on the weekends! Love the idea of Compost Cookies too!
I am in LOVE with these cookies…and I can’t stop staring at the coffee ground specks!
Oh man, these sound incredible! I love all the texture of these cookies. Genius!
I could dive in! Hope you had a wonderful weekend
I hadn’t heard of compost cookies until this year but they sound incredible.
Love all the fun ingredients in these! What a fabulous cookie!
Loving this twist on Monster Cookies, Sommer! Have been making Monster Cookies since the 1980s for my younger brothers. And, I just adore the name “Compost Cookies”. Anything goes. Thanks for sharing!