When it comes to food, I try my best to be adventurous. I see nothing wrong in sampling a dish that has a strange description or a smattering of unusually paired ingredients, if for no other reason than to say that I tried it. This was the case when I bought a Vosges Bacon Chocolate Bar or when I ordered Egg Cream gelato at Grom in Greenwich Village. So maybe I'm mainly exploratory when it comes to sweets, but to be fair, I go out for dessert much more often than I go out for a regular meal. But I still spend a good amount of time in the kitchen, and I've been thinking that my confectionary open-mindedness should extend beyond what other chefs are trying and into my own repertoire. Which is why I was pleased to have found a cookie recipe that I had not seen before; I had not seen even similar types of cookies in the past. The name "Potato Chip Cookie" is, to me, not very appetizing, but only because I'm not a fan of potato chips in general. However, when I thought about it, I love chocolate covered pretzels, with the mixture of sweet and salty, and so perhaps potato chips in cookie dough would not be so far-fetched. The final product turned out quite well, in my opinion (and the opinion of my co-workers!). The potato chips gave the cookies a bit of extra fluffiness but they did not give themselves away: as unwitting tasters tested the cookies, none were able to identify the secret ingredient, but many agreed that it had a "familiar" flavor. Additionally, the dough is of the standard, buttery variety and is difficult to do much harm to. Personally, these are not my favorite cookies; I found the combination of butter and potato chips to be slightly overwhelming. However, they were a real crowd-pleaser with their crunchy mystery ingredient.
Yield: About 3 dozen
Ingredients:2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 - 1 1/4 cups crushed potato chips
Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy, then beat in the egg.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt, then stir into butter mixture. Stir in potato chips.
Drop tablespoonfuls (1-inch balls) of dough onto prepared baking sheet, leaving about 2-inches between each cookie to allow room to spread.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, until light golden.
Cool completely on a wire rack before storing in an airtight container.
