If you’ve made a recipe from an issue of Western Living in the last 10 years, chances are, it’s from the brain of Julie Van Rosendaal. We’re not her only fans: the excellent chef (and delightful human) is a regular contributor to the CBC and Globe and Mail, and even joined the editorial team at Canadian institution Best of Bridge a few years back.

All of which is to say: Julie’s been a little busy…. but still somehow found the time to write a cookbook full of new comfort food classics that we can’t wait to dig into. 

Dirty Food is “a playful pushback against the concept of clean eating,” celebrating the inherent messiness of what food means to all of us€”sure, it’s fuel, but it’s cultural, historical, social and emotional, and we can’t live life on raw smoothie bowls alone: Julie argues that humans need sticky banoffee pudding, all-dressed devilled eggs and Doritos dust street corn, too. We’re not going to argue€”especially not when she’s sharing her irresistible Trashy Cookies recipe with us. 

Dirty Food launches November 15, and it’s available for pre-order now.

Recipe: Trashy Cookies

I love a cookie crammed with plenty of stuff€”salty, sweet, chewy, crunchy, melty€¦ I like to rummage through my cupboards and baking drawers and toss in handfuls of whatever I find, particularly those ends of bags that might wind up forgotten in the back of the pantry.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup old-fashioned or quick oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2-1 cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate or chocolate bars
1/2 cup crushed pretzels
Anything else you like

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. In a large bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar until creamy; beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the flour, oats, baking soda and salt and beat on low or stir until the dough comes together. As you stir, add the chocolate, pretzels or chips, and anything else you like. 

Drop by the large spoonful (or use a scoop) onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden around the edges, but still soft in the middle. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Makes about 1 1/2 dozen cookies.

Credit: The author in all her glory. Photo by Jeremy Fokkens.