College Cooking’s Potato Chip Cookies

I do not like potato chips. I used to. Now I don’t. And yet, they’re perfectly delicious when surrounded by a mound of butter, sugar and flour. I give you the Potato Chip Cookie from the book College Cooking by, get ready for this, actual college students Megan and Jill Carle.

The book’s dessert section is small but surprisingly upscale. Very few of the recipes rely on pre-packaged ingredients, and include Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Crepes with Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce.  Seems pretty sophisticated for your average college student, but as long as one is equipped with an oven and hotplate and a half hour to spare, they’ll enjoy these recipes immensely.

So, the recipe calls for ridged potato chips (Remember rrrruffles have rrridges?), but I decided to use these:

Notice how these were on sale…

Here’s the recipe:

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup crushed ridged potato chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)

Procedure:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2) Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and stir until smooth.  Add the potato chips, pecans and vanilla and stir until combined. Add the flour and stir until incorporated. Drop teaspoonfuls of the dough about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet and baked for 12-15 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Cool on parchment or waxed paper and sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar, if desired.   Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Since I have no money, I decided to make only a quarter of the recipe.  Here’s how I went about it:

Mmmm….fattening.

Pecans are expensive, so I’d say buy a big bag for cheap, or crack them on your own.   You’ll exercise your wrists in the meantime. 

Dough balls in the sunlight.

The dough is on the dryer side and holds its shape. The recipe says to stir the butter and sugar but I should stress that what you should really do is cream the two together.  Also, don’t feel limited by the amount of potato chips or pecans called for – the recipe is very versatile. I’d say, use any nut you want, and substitute potato chips with anything from Doritos to Pirate’s Booty.  Here they are after being baked: 

Aw they’re all paired up.

As you can tell, I decided to not dust them in powdered sugar.  It’s the most unnecessary accoutrement desserts have ever been burdened with.  And besides, these cookies are delicious on their own.  Soft, but with a crunchy texture and a lip-licking saltiness that is positively addictive.  Try these right away – it’ll take you under 15 minutes to make. I’d say 2 minutes to eat them all.

Buy the book  now from the Kollege Kitchen amazon webstore!