In the run-up to my 2017 Advent Calendar, which starts December 1st, I’ve got 12 Days of Holiday Baking for you. Today’s recipe? Santa Babies!

I came up with this recipe for my family-famous Santa Baby Cookies when I was still an undergrad. I was hankering to revisit this cookie that I’d had in a coffee shop in California. It came from a glass jar labelled, “Taylor’s Mom’s Cookies,” and it was a kitchen sink cookie….certainly the best kitchen sink I’d ever tasted.

Years later, this recipe is still a huge hit in my book. Frankly, I think it should be in everybody’s wheelhouse! So, here goes!

Print Recipe

Santa Babies

Servings: 45 Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 c unsalted butter softened
• 1 c brown sugar
• 1/2 c granulated sugar
• 2 eggs room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 c all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 c oats
• 1 1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 c toffee bits or 4 skor bars crushed 
• 1/2 c flaked coconut [sweetened or unsweetened]
• 1/2 c chopped pecans [If you have nut allergies you can leave these out, and the recipe will be just as good.]

Instructions

• Heat oven to 350.
• Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.
• Add eggs and vanilla and mix until creamy.
• Separately, mix flour, salt and baking soda.
• Add these dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
• Separately, mix chocolate chips, toffee bits, oatmeal, coconut and pecans.
• Add as many of these mixins to the cookie batter as you can, mixing first by machine, then, fully incorporating with a spatula. The dough will be very stiff and bursting with mixins.
• Drop 1-2 tbs of dough 2 inches apart on parchment or silpat-lined cookie sheets.*
• Bake for 10-12 minutes.
• Cool on wire racks.
• Enjoy!

Notes

*FREEZE AHEAD! These cookies make great freeze-ahead cookies! Form the dough into balls & place the cookies in a single layer on a piece of waxed paper or parchment [or stack multiple flat layers] in a Ziploc-style bag or freezer safe-container and freeze. I find it best to place my a Ziploc-style bag on a tray until the flat-lay packages are fully frozen. No need to defrost. Simply bake 2-5 minutes longer than the time called for in the recipe.