TOASTED PECAN POTATO CHIP COOKIES . . . . . . Salty Sweet Deliciousness!

Visit the Mama Szasz website for more!

This recipe came simply out of need. Need for salty & sweet nummies, AND need to use up the crumbled up bottoms of the potato chip bags in my pantry. How many of you go to get the chips out of the cabinet, only to find this? ---------------------------------->
Not a single, dip-able chip in the house! Though, I can't really blame anyone for not wanting to use the chip bits that you're left with after eating most of the rest of the bag. Really, who wants to try to grab a pinch-full of little chip bits & try to slide them through the dip with the tips of your fingers, getting dip all over the place? (Though you know you've all done it)

So I came up with a recipe that will use these up. I suppose there's always Tuna Casserole to sprinkle them on, but I'm not looking for ordinary. These little puppies are so FABULOUS, you may want to take care when making them - make sure you have enough kids hanging around to eat some of them, so you won't end up gobbling up each & every one yourself!

TOASTED PECAN POTATO CHIP COOKIES

                                                      2 sticks Unsalted Butter - softened
                                                      3/4 cup packed Light Brown Sugar
                                                      3/4 cup Sugar
                                                     2 eggs
                                                     1 tsp. Vanilla
                                                     2 1/4 cups Flour
                                                     1 tsp. Baking Soda
                                                     1/2 tsp. Salt
                                                     4 cups Potato Chips - crushed & divided
                                                     1 cup Pecans - toasted & chopped
                                                    (I'm thinking next time maybe I'll add chocolate chips!)

(Simple directions are in BOLD print)
(more detailed directions are in plain print)

1.) Cream the butter & sugars.
OK, let's talk creaming butter & sugar: It's a simple step, but more important than it may seem. Creaming creates air pockets in a recipe batter. This causes the food to rise, giving an airy, delicate texture. It is the same principle as yeast making bread rise. Creaming produces cakes and desserts that aren't dense, but instead light and airy.

So start placing all the butter & sugars in a mixing bowl. Using a stand or hand held mixer, run it on medium speed just to get everything mixed. Then, scraping down the sides as necessary, keep the thing running until you see the mixture change color & become very "cream"-y.

"Mixed" Butter & Sugar

"Creamed" Butter & Sugar

2.) Add eggs, one at a time, mixing between additions.
Now turn the mixer down to low & add an egg. Wait til' the batter goes through the slippery, sloppy stage & gets sticky again, then add the other egg & mix until the batter is sticky again.

3.) Keep the mixer running & add vanilla, the flour slowly (about a 1/2 cup at a time, letting it mix in between additions), baking soda & salt.

4.) Hand mix in 2 cups of the potato chips & the pecans.


To toast the pecans, lay the whole nuts in a single layer on a piece of foil (or pan) & bake them at 400 for 4 minutes (a toaster oven works great), then chop them up.

 5.) Roll the batter into 2" balls & roll those in the remaining crushed potato chips.

6.) Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes. Perfect cooking time for cookies varies from oven to oven, AND batch to batch. You have to test yours for a while until you get use to how it cooks. In mine, the first tray of cookies I put in takes 11 minutes, the rest take only 9 minutes. To test yours, set your timer for 7 minutes on the first batch, check them, & if they need more time just add 1 minute to the timer & check them again . . . Do this for each batch until you have a handle on your oven's timing.

The results you're looking for are a lightly golden edge, but still a soft looking center. Cooling them on the pan will solid-up the centers without making them hard to bite into.