Tasty Potato Chip Cookies

When working at a group home for long term adolescent psych patients, I was given a recipe for Potato Chip Cookies. The group home was on a very strict budget. Our food budget was too tight for food to be wasted. Someone had donated several bags of potato chips to the home; however, a few of the bags were badly crushed.

The crushed potato chips got used as topping for Tuna Noodle Casserole, mixed with the breading mixture for oven-fried chicken. Both provided good alternatives and helped stretch the food dollar to provide cheap food. The problem was there were still more crushed potato chips to use.

One of the other staff members came from a "very cheap" family (her words, not mine), the politically correct terms would be frugal or thrifty. She brought in a recipe for Potato Chip Cookies. YUCK was my immediate thought; however, having made some strange concoctions in the kitchen, such as Chocolate Zucchini Carrot Cupcakes (a frequently sought after recipe by guests), it was worth a shot. Perhaps, this would be the next great budget baking treat.

The kids loved the cookies; we were able to use up all of our excess potato chip crumbs. Now we had a new problem; the kids wanted more cookies. There were no broken potato chips left. Luckily, the "slightly" crushed bags of potato chips were less expensive at the grocery store then the "regular" bags. We were able to continue to not only have these budget busting baked treats, but the kids also got to have chips for school lunches a bit more often.

Of course, the recipe has been modified over time; here it is for your pleasure.

Potato Chip Cookies

Makes 2 1/2 to 3-dozen cookies.

Ingredients

1 C. unsalted butter, softened (or Crisco)
1 C. powdered sugar
1 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
2 C. all-purpose flour
3/4 C. crushed potato chips
Optional: 3/4 C. finely chopped toasted nuts (pecans are a family favorite, but the cookies are good without these)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and vanilla until combined, and it appears light and fluffy.
3. Stir in the flour until lightly mixed (don't over combine or the cookies will be tough).
4. Stir in the nuts if you are using them, and then gently stir in the crushed potato chips.
5. With baking sheets lined with parchment paper, drop 1 T of dough onto the baking sheet for each cookie, spacing at least 1 1/2″ apart.
6. Bake the cookies for 9 to 11 minutes, until the edges are slightly brown.
7. Cool cookies on the baking sheets for 3 minutes.
8. Transfer cookies to wire racks finish cooling.