Potato Chip Cookies

I’ve had a bag of potato chips sitting my pantry waiting to be made into these delightful cookies for about a month. The real reason I waited so long was I just didn’t have the energy to make cookies but my imaginary reason was that I knew it was killing husband to see a bag of chips in the pantry that he was not allowed to eat. I finally got around to crushing the chips that I needed and I told husband that he could eat the remaining chips. In less than 24 hours that bag was empty. I love this man because he makes me laugh.

When I read about this recipe on smittenkitchen.com, Deb mentioned that she should have added extra salt. She used Cap Code chips and while they were salty, they just weren’t salty enough. She suggests adding an extra smidge of salt. Well, my chips were very salty and I decided I didn’t need that extra smidge of salt. I was wrong. Add it, I don’t care how salty you think your chips are, they aren’t salty enough. She also suggests adding a potato chip/seal salt finish or a chocolate finish. I used the potato chip finished and I was very happy with it. If I hadn’t been expecting company I would have done the chocolate finish as well. You can find the chocolate finish on smittenkitchen.com.

I found that these reminded me of Pecan Sandies. “Light, flakey and tasty” was how my dad described these cookies (those are the correct three words, right dad?). There wasn’t an overwhelming potato chip flavor, but I would guess that this changes according to which brand of chips you use.

Enjoy!

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup sugar, divided
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. salt (optional, see note above)
½ cup chopped and toasted pecans
½ cup finely crushed potato chips
2 cups flour

Potato chip salt finish (optional)
1 tablespoon crushed potato chips
1 1/2 teaspoons flaked sea salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter with ½ cup of the sugar until lightly and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla and table salt, if using, until smooth. Add the pecans, cup crushed potato chips and flour together and mix until just combined.

Place the remaining ¼ 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. Roll the ball in the remaining sugar until coated. Place on prepared 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 chip salt, if using. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake cookies until lightly golden at the edges, about 15 minutes. Transfer to cool on a wire rack.

Adapted from smittenkitchen.com/2012/01/potato-chip-cookies