Crazy Delicious Egg-Free Cookies

When I read David Lebovitz' post about Amnesty Cookies, it made me wanna dig into my pantry and see what kind of goodies I could find. I just HAD to make an egg-free version for my little cookie monster.

David actually got inspired to make his cookie from reading Adam Roberts' post about "Compost Cookies." The recipe originally came from pastry chef Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milkbar.  Basically, this cookie has everything from chocolate chips and butterscotch morsels to pretzels and potato chips.  Now, that sounds like a cookie worth sinking your teeth into. Oooooh...I can't wait! I can't wait!

Okay, so I knew I wanted to use my egg-free chocolate chip cookie recipe for the base, but what will I put in it? What insane combination will I come up with?  I had a LOT of stuff to choose from but I can't just put everything in it.  I gotta use some restraint, right?  Well, with my son's help, we narrowed it down to a choice few: Rold Gold pretzels, Ritz crackers, Lays potato chips, Nestle Toll House butterscotch morsels, Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate baking chips, dried cranberries and Oreo cookies. Yeah, I thought the last one was pretty funny too. A cookie inside a cookie? Oh yeah! Why not?



This is gonna be interesting...



Judging by the cookie dough, it looks like this is gonna be GOOD. Anyone drooling yet?



I used a large ice cream scoop to portion out the dough and gently pressed each cookie flat before placing them into the oven. Ooooh...look at those pretzel pieces and Oreo cookie pieces peeking through.  Be still my heart!



I was trying to figure out what to call these cookies but whatever I could think of just didn't sound right.  Cleaning out the pantry cookies? Everything but the kitchen sink cookies? Nah, too wordy.  Hubby even chimed in and said, "How about Meatloaf cookies? You know, because you mix all sorts of things in it, like a meatloaf." Ummm...No. Then my son took one bite of the cookie and announced, "That is one crazy delicious cookie!" That's it! Absolutely! Now, why didn't I think of that?



Crazy Delicious Egg-Free Cookies
Yields about 2 dozen cookies, 3-inches in diameter
Allergy Note: contains dairy and wheat ingredients

1 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3 cups mixture of baking ingredients (dried fruit, chocolate chips, cookies)
2-3 cups mixture of snack foods (potato chips, pretzels, crackers)

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line 2 to 4 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
Sift together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In large mixer bowl, cream together butter, sugar, brown sugar, cream cheese, and vanilla. Gradually blend dry mixture into butter/sugar mixture. Add in salty mixture and sweet mixture. Stir until combined. Using a large ice cream scoop, drop the cookie dough onto the cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.  Gently press down each cookie. Bake at 350ºF for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges. Let cool completely before removing from cookie sheet.

Update: I tried adding 2 tablespoons of coffee grounds and they tasted uh...mazing!

UPDATE 6/29/14:
How cute are these?!? I made these fun and colorful cookies for my niece's birthday.  I added 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles and used milk chocolate chips and white chocolate chips :-)

Please note: I am not a paid endorser nor did I accept any freebies of the brands or products mentioned in this post.  I just love them and wanted to share them with you :-)