Potato Chip Cookies

Growing up one my family’s favorite snack foods was, and still is, potato chips. There is a debate among many, whether it is ridges or absent of ridges that are the best types of chips. Quite frankly the non-ridge version was categorically the winner with my family and hands down the traditional Lays potato chip was the preferred choice in our household.

To bring it to another level, there was some minor debate about what type of chip was the best. You are probably thinking, are there really types of chips within a bag of traditional Lays - you bet. They can be "flat", "folded over", "slightly brown" or the bits at the bottom of the bag. In our family the prized possession or as we called it – was the “filet” chip.

The filet was a medium sized chip, not folded over and certainly not any declaration of brown hues and absent of bubbles from the frying process. The filet was highly coveted and when one was discovered, or two people went to the bowl of chips to select, one person would exclaim, I have found a filet. Quite often my Mom would get the most excited about capturing the filet with me right behind her. To this day, we still enjoy a large bowl of potato chips and the hunt for prized filet continues.

To be honest, potato chips are the junk food that I crave. If you posed the question: would I rather have a chocolate bar or a bowl of potato chips, it would be no contest – the potato chips would win every time. It is the salty, crunchy and carbohydrate thing that resonates with me. Several years ago the company I was with at the time had their company headquarters in the mid-west. I was working on a special project that took me from California to the mid-west headquarters.

This particular company served snacks at 3pm to every floor of the headquarters – not sure if they were just old school or it was a mid-western charm thing. In any event, I had my first encounter with the potato chip cookie. I was blown away by the crunch, saltiness and richness that were encapsulated all in a few bites. I tried for years to recreate without avail to finding the closest match to my memory of this brilliant bite of heaven.

Recently I discovered on Smitten Kitchen’s blog a recipe for Potato Chip Cookies and was intrigued to try it. I adapted the recipe by using salted butter, adding more salt and vanilla, incorporating mini dark chocolate chips and doubling the crushed potato chips to the recipe. I loved the idea of garnishing with crushed potato chips. Originally she adapted from Emeril. I brought the cookies to my office the next day and they were gone within a matter of hours along with many requests for the recipe. Enjoy!

Potato Chip Cookies

Makes 3 dozen cookies

1 C. salted butter, at room temperature
1 C. granulated sugar, divided in half
2 t. pure vanilla extract
1 t. sea salt
1/2 C. chopped and toasted pecans
1/2 C. Mini dark chocolate chips
1 C finely crushed potato chips + ¼ C for garnish
2 C. all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Use a stand mixer to cream together the butter with 1/2 cup of the sugar until lightly and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla and salt until smooth. Add the pecans, mini chocolate chips and 1 cup crushed potato chips and mix then add the flour and mix until just combined.

Place the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a small bowl. Scoop a tablespoon-sized mound of dough and form it into a small ball with the palms of your hands. I use a cookie scoop to form uniform size balls. (See photo in post) Roll the ball in the remaining sugar until coated. Place on baking sheet and using the bottom of a drinking glass to slightly flatten the cookies. Cookies only need to be an inch apart; they only spread a little. Sprinkle with a few flakes of the potato chips. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake cookies until lightly golden at the edges, about 12 -15 minutes, depending on how hot your oven gets. Transfer to cool on a wire rack.