Each semester during parent-teacher conference week, our school’s PTG looks for volunteers to bake and cook for the teachers, who work through the evening hours. Given that cooking and baking is my kind of volunteering, I always try to make something, at least one dessert and one meal. After a few rounds of cookies for various functions at the school in addition to this, I feel I’ve established myself as a decent baker in particular–so I have decided that from here on out I am going to use them as my guinea pigs.
Sammy and I went cookie cookbook browsing, searching for those cookies that although they sounded good, would not necessarily be made under normal circumstances. Cookies we were curious about. These fit the bill perfectly, because although I think salty and sweet are a marriage made in heaven, my husband does not. And indeed he took one bite of these cookies and would not eat any more (!).
I on the other hand found them dangerously addictive, like shortbread plus potato chips and yet much better than that sounds. And if I was feeling insecure at all after John’s rejection (although truly he was nice about it), I felt a lot better after a friend of mine told me that her older son’s teacher had gushed to her about these amazing potato chip cookies, and how she had sneaked out at every possible break, hoping there would still be more left.
So I guess some people love them!
The recipe did not contain any guidelines about what kind of potato chips to use, so I went with our standby, Cape Cod Reduced Fat Kettle Cooked chips. The reduction in fat comes from the baking/frying method, not any weird additives. I do find them less salty than other chips though so I added a bit of coarse salt to the dough. I think I was a tad overzealous in my rolling of the cookie dough in potato chips, as I used a ton more than Krystina Castella called for in her Crazy About Cookies: 300 Scrumptious Recipes for Every Occasion & Craving
, my source for the recipe that I adapted from. Of course one person’s overzealous is another person’s perfect, so just roll to taste.
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 t vanilla
- ¼ t coarse salt, optional, see notes above
- 2 cups (252 g) AP flour
- 2 cups (200 g) coarsely crushed potato chips, divided (or more, to taste, see notes above)
- coarse salt and sugar for sprinkling
- Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment or silicone. Set aside.
- Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy (add the salt here if using). Mix in the vanilla, and then the flour and 1 cup of the potato chips. Mix well to thoroughly incorporate the chips but do not overmix.
- Using a cookie scoop or spoons, shape the dough into 1 inch balls and then roll them in the remaining crushed potato chips. Place on the cookie sheet about 2½ inches apart (I baked 12 cookies to a sheet). Press on the cookie balls slightly to flatten just a bit. Sprinkle them with coarse salt and/or sugar, to your taste (I liked both).
- Bake for 12-15 minutes; the cookies will not get particularly dark, just lightly browned. Let cool on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Affiliate links were used in this post, but only to link to items I would be discussing and linking to anyway.
Salty and sweet. I can see why people love them. I think it's one of those simple yet delicious recipes. I'm bookmarking.
Love the contrast of sweet and salty here. These look and sound super super delish.
I bet the combo of sweet and salty in these cookies is insanely addictive! These look great.
Wow, these sound incredible! I'll have to try this recipe out some time.
Salty sweet seductive!! I wish I was a teacher at your school right now.
These are so perfect for when you can't decide weather you want chips or cookies!
I wonder, do you wash them down with a beer or a glass of milk?
Chips in cookies….brilliant! I love this idea.
I wish I was a parent or a teacher at that school – these are wonderful!! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I think this is a great cookie!
I too am a salty-sweet fan. What a great, unusual idea!
These are quite tasty. I just finally made them today. Thanks!
Yay! Love it when I get positive feedback. Glad you liked them.
Just made these for lunch boxes for tomorrow. They were fabulous and great texture for packing. However many went “missing” on the way to the boxes. Used very fresh Lays. Loved that they didn’t have PB re school allergies. THANK YOU so much for taking the time to post. This recipe is a keeper! BJ
Thank you! And I LOVE hearing success stories with any recipe I post so THANK YOU for taking the time to come back and let me know!