Potato Chip Cookies
People don’t traditionally associate dessert with Super Bowl food, so I combined two of America’s favorite snacks (the cookie and the potato chip) for this year’s Super Bowl party!
I’m proud to say I’ve been getting a little braver with my baking and improvising a lot more. I’ve done it with cooking, but I always hesitated to do the same with baking since even the slightest bit too much or too little of something can throw a dessert’s chemistry off and completely change the texture and sometimes even the flavor. Most of my experimenting has come with flavor rather than texture as of late.
I sourced the recipe for these cookies from Emeril, but I like my sweet-and-salty desserts a bit saltier so I adapted the recipe as such:
INGREDIENTS:
For the cookies
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup chopped and toasted pecans
- 1/2 cup finely crushed potato chips (I used Kettle Sea Salt potato chips smashed in a baggie with my hands)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Chocolate and potato chip dip finish (optional)
1 cup crushed potato chips (used a food processor to crush finer)
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 teaspoon canola oil (butter will work too)
DIRECTIONS:
- 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 1/2 cup of the sugar until lightly and fluffy with a dough blender. Two knives will work too, as I made these at a friend’s and had forgotten to bring my pastry blender. Mix in the vanilla and salt until smooth. Add the pecans, 1/2 cup crushed potato chips and flour together 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, firm ball. Roll the ball in the remaining sugar until coated. Place on prepared baking sheet and slightly flatten the cookie balls. The cookies only spread a wee bit, so they only need to be about an inch apart. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Bake cookies until lightly golden around the edges, about 15 minutes. Transfer to cool on a wire rack.
- If dipping in chocolate, melt chocolate with oil in the microwave (do a few 30-second increments) or in a double boiler. Stir until smooth. Dip half of each fully cooled cookie in the chocolate, and sprinkle with pulverized potato chips. Let dry and set on a wire rack.
I probably slightly overdid the salt between using salted chips and adding more salt (I used a full teaspoon originally) than what Emeril’s recipe called for, so I dipped them in bittersweet chocolate and then sprinkled crushed potato chips on top. They were looking a little on the plain side any way, so it worked out nicely!
Melody was my Sho-Yu secret santa this year and got me this fabulous Martha Stewart miniature cake stand. I’m very excited to be using it to show off my latest edibles!
PS – I loved Beyonce’s catwalk during her half time performance this year. I’ve been practicing one myself.
