These chewy Compost Cookies are loaded with potato chips, pretzels, oats, coffee grounds, chocolate, and white chocolate chips! And YES they are better than Milk Bar!

Bake up more mouthwatering cookie recipes by also checking out Levain Bakery Copycat Cookies or these Cowboy Cookies that are also loaded with mix-ins!

Compost cookies on a pink surface with ingredients around it.

All About These Tasty Compost Cookies

Grab a bite of these Homemade Compost Cookies, and you’ll realize for yourself that they’re better than Momofuku Milk Bar Cookies! These brown butter base cookies are loaded with pretzels, oats, potato chips, and two kinds of chocolate chips!

Compost cookies, also known as everything but the kitchen sink cookies and garbage cookies, get their name from adding in lots of mix-ins! Making the best-tasting cookie in just an hour’s time!

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Rebecca’s Recipe Review

Taste: Since these cookies are flooded with mix-ins, there are lots of flavors to look forward to! You’ll enjoy their salty side from the pretzels and potato chips while the chocolate and white chocolate chips give you a kick of sweetness. The taste of oats and coffee grounds also comes into play in every single bite!

Texture: These cookies have as much texture as they do flavor! They’re tender and chewy yet have tasty crisp edges, while the pretzels and potato chips give them a nice crunch.

Ease: 4/10

Pros: You can use just about any mix-ins you have on hand!

Cons: None.

Would I Make This Again? Yes!

Key flavor ingredients to make compost cookies on a white counter.

Ingredients For Compost Cookies

Unsalted Butter
All-Purpose Flour
Coffee Grounds
Malted milk Powder
Salt
Baking Soda
Granualted sugar
Dark Brown Sugar
Vanilla Extract
Large Egg
Large Egg Yolk
Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
White Chocolate Chips
Pretzel Pieces
Potato Chips
1-Minute Oats

Brown Butter

Brown butter, also known as beurre noisette, is simply butter that’s been cooked to turn the milk solids brown. The solids then turn into brown specks in the pan that give cookies a delicious toasty, slightly caramelized flavor.

The brown butter enhances these compost cookies, giving them a rich flavor that makes them completely irresistible!

If you’ve never browned butter, it’s actually very quick and easy to do. It takes less than 10 minutes using only butter, a whisk, and a skillet!

In this recipe, you do not brown all of the butter, as that would alter the recipe. Instead, only 10 tablespoons are browned, and the remaining 4 are just melted and not cooked.

How To Make Compost Cookies

Preheat the oven and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Then remove the butter from the fridge to allow it to soften at room temperature.
Whisk the flour, coffee grounds, malted milk powder, salt, and baking soda together and then set it aside.
Brown the butter by cooking it over medium heat in a skillet until it’s melted. Continue cooking while stirring until brown bits start to form in the bottom of the pan, the top is foamy, and it has a nutty aroma. Then remove the brown butter form the heat and stir in the remaining butter until it’s melted. Transfer the butter the bowl of a stand mixer.
Add the sugars and vanilla to the butter and mix to combine.
Mix in the egg and additional egg yolk. Let the mixture rest and then whisk again. Repeating the whisking and rest for two more cycles.
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients using a rubber spatula or paddle attachment.
Fold in the chocolate chips, pretzel pieces, crushed chips, and oats.
Portion the cookie dough out and transfer it on to the prepared baking sheet. Top the cookies with additional chocolate chips and pretzel pieces if desired.
Bake the Homemade Compost Cookies, rotating them halfway through. Then remove them from the oven and allow them to cool.

A woman's hand holding a compost cookie to the camera with a bite missing.

Rebecca’s Tips

Prepare The Mix-Ins – Before beginning the recipe, I’d recommend preparing the mix-ins. That way, the process will flow nicely without any added mess along the way. I like to crush up the potato chips and pretzels, then measure out the chocolate and white chocolate chips as well as the oats. That way, I can just dump and move on when the recipe gets to that step!
Measuring Flour – When measuring out the flour in this cookie recipe, it’s important to use caution since it’s easy to add too much flour! Too much flour will alter these cookies, resulting in dry, crumbly cookies when what we really want are tender, chewy cookies! The go-to kitchen method of measuring flour is typically dunking the measuring cup needed into the container or bag and scooping while packing it in. This will result in too much flour every time! Instead, take just 2 minutes to learn how to measure flour correctly to get perfect cookies every time!
Baking Pans – In this recipe, it’s best to use two baking pans and rotate them while baking. This will prevent having to drop the cookie dough onto a hot sheet pan leading to cookies with an altered structure.
Dress Them Up – You can easily give these cookies their finished Milk Bar appearance! To do so, pat additional chocolate chips, a whole pretzel, and even potato chips on top of the cookies before baking.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions & Variations

While malted milk powder isn’t necessary for the structure of the cookie, it does add a nice, delicious depth of flavor. If you don’t have malted milk powder, powdered coffee creamer would be a great substitute.
I prefer to use Cape Cod potato chips since they’re thicker than most brands allowing them to hold up better in the cookies. However, don’t be afraid to just use what you have on hand, either!
Unfortunately, instant coffee and espresso powder would both just dissolve in the cookie dough. Therefore, fresh from the canister coffee grounds must be sued for the best results.
This recipe portions out the dough using a large cookie scoop, creating large cookies that are about 4 inches across. If you want to make smaller cookies use a medium cookie scoop and then bake them for 6 to 7 minutes.
You can definitely play around with the mix-ins by adding in mini butterscotch chips or 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs. Feel free to try making these with any of your favorite snacks, though!

A woman's hand holding a compost cookie to the camera.

Storage Instructions For Compost Cookies

Transfer cooled cookies into an airtight container. If you dressed the cookies up with toppings before baking, you may want to separate the layers of cookies with parchment paper to prevent ruining any toppings.

Store the cookies at room temperature and enjoy them for up to 5 days.

How To Freeze Compost Cookies

To freeze them, wrap each cookie individually with plastic wrap and then again with tin foil. Afterward, place the wrapped cookies into a large Ziploc freezer bag and store them in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Allow them to thaw at room temperature overnight before enjoying them!

You can also freeze the cookie dough to bake later! To do so, portion the dough out onto a baking sheet and place it in the freezer for an hour.

This allows the dough to freeze separately before placing it into a Ziploc bag, where it would just turn into one big lump of dough. Once the frozen cookie portions are bagged, store them in the freezer and bake within 3 months.

Compost cookies on a pink surface with ingredients all around them.

Ranger Cookies – Lots of delicious flavor and texture packed into one cookie!
Big & Chewy Monster Cookies – Made with cake flour for a deliciously soft cookie!
Cowboy Cookies – Loaded with pecans, chocolate chips, and shredded coconut!
Serenity Cookies (Sweet Magnolias) – A brown butter dough filled with chocolate and walnuts!
Cookie Dough Cookies – Rich, homemade Crumbl Copycat cookies!

Did You Make This Recipe?

If you’ve tried this recipe, please let leave a review in the comments below. I love hearing from you! Don’t forget to tag me – @sugarandsoulco – on Instagram and Pinterest with your photos, or join our Sugar & Soul Show-offs Community and share them there.