Winnie Verona's Potato Chip Cookies

To my sisters' great consternation, I am sharing this recipe with the world. There are many such recipes which have gone to the grave with its creator and thankfully, my Mother wrote this one down. 

POTATO CHIP COOKIES

Potato Chip Cookies

I don’t know what possessed her - her unwillingness to throw food out? -  but one night, after spending days making 1000s of Christmas cookies and still having leftover cookie dough, my mother had the brilliant idea of incorporating potato chips into cookie dough to see what would happen. Well, what happened was that she concocted probably the most delicious cookie imaginable. Not only that, but for years after that, friends and relatives begged her to make these cookies all year round. My mother, being my mother, of course, complied! The combination of sweet and savory is taken to its limits and then goes one step further with the dusting of confectioner’s sugar. These cookies are not for the faint of heart, but they aren’t heavy in the least. They are simply and unabashedly the most subtle sugary lozenge one can eat.

This recipes makes about 130 cookies, but you can halve the recipe if you don't want to make that many cookies or use that much butter! I’ve given both amounts in the ingredients list.

1 lb. Butter/1/2 lb. (4 sticks/2 sticks)

1 cup sugar/1/2 cup

3 1/2 cups flour/1 3/4 cup

1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla.3/4 tsp

2 full cups/1 cup Crushed Potato Chips (a rolling pin works best for this)

Confectioners Sugar for sifting

Preheat oven to 350º 

Oven temperatures vary so if you want to experiment with the temperature and go hotter, by all means; every oven is different.

Cream butter and sugar in a mixer until pale yellow. Add the Vanilla and Flour and mix well. Fold in the crushed potato chips and work the dough with your hands into a ball on a floured work surface. Taking a teaspoonful at a time, drop balls onto an un-greased cookie sheet. Do not flatten but use the tines of a fork and press into the dough (like peanut butter cookies).

Bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned (check after 5 or 6 minutes and turn the sheet around if necessary).  I leave mine in just until they are lightly browned on the edges. They will still bake while cooling.

Sprinkle powdered sugar on cookies once they're completely cooled. Keep in a plastic container or a metal tin lined in plastic wrap. The cookies keep in the refrigerator for two to three weeks and they freeze very well for up to one year.

Enjoy!