Crisp at the edges, chewy in the middle, with deep chocolate flavor and a lightly salted crunch – cookie Nirvana.
Last night we had a party. Some old friends and some new friends, eating and drinking (yes, there was wine, lots of wine) outdoors; and enjoying some of the nicest summer weather we’ve seen in years.
Truth be told, I am not a dessert person and I sometimes struggle when I need to provide dessert for a crowd but… these Dark Chocolate Potato Chip Cookies by Naomi Robinson at bakersroyale.com, caught my eye and hit the spot with my guests, in the best of ways.
There are a lot of reasons why these cookies work for an outside party:
- Most people like cookies. I find, that when it comes to dessert, there are non-dessert eaters (who needs ‘em?), and, there are pie people, cake people, and ice cream people but just about everyone eats cookies. Add chocolate to the cookies and your nearing 100% compliance.
- You can make these cookies ahead of time. No last-minute prep, no forgetting to take the pie out of the oven, and no melty ice-creamy sundaes to keep from sticking to, and melting down, your guests’ arms and legs. You can even make thesecookies a day ahead of time if you want to but, because you want the chips to be crunchy, same day is best.
- You don’t need dessert plates or forks. Your guest can eat these cookies with their hands. Most of our guests had an Oberon or a Chardonnay in the other hand so these cookies allowed for maximum consumption, with minimum juggling skills.
The Nutrition 411:
I am really grasping for something here. There’s not much I can say about the nutritional merits of these cookies other than our food guidance system, MyPlate and the Dietary Guidelines tell us that “all foods fit,” even sweets, into a healthy diet. (Hooray for that!) Plus, we DID use dark chocolate chips, right? Just sayin’!
Cooking Secrets:
- Don’t try this with a wimpy hand mixer. If you have an electric mixer use it. It takes a lot of power to cream the cold butter. I speak from experience. I tried it with my hand mixer and had to haul out my Kitchen Aid to get the job done.
- Molasses is a must. Don’t even think about subbing out the dark molasses for anything else. You won’t get the crispy-on-the-edges chewy-inside texture that makes these cookies great.
- Don’t skip the rest time. Let them rest on the cookie sheet, 2 minutes before you transfer them to finish cooling on a rack. Trust me, the cookies will be better.
- Ball means ball. Don’t flatten these too much before baking. (See next secret.)
- IMPORTANT – Decorate them a bit before baking. Naomi, at Bakers Royale, doesn’t tell you this and she should! If you want your guest to see the chocolate chips or chunks, and the potato chips, you must dress them up a bit before baking. I followed Naomi’s recipe for the first batch, and I was disappointed that I couldn’t see the chips (either kind) very well once they were baked. To fix that see step #7 below in my instructions.
If you’re wondering how much my guest LOVED these cookies, all 4 dozen of them (I multiplied the recipe by 1.5 and made them a little smaller), except for the few I had set aside for this photo and forgotten about – were gone by 10 pm. And the five you see here in this photo? Mr. EN polished them off by noon today! I hope you enjoy them as much as he did. 😊
Peace, love, and good eats; from our Empty Nest to yours.
Dark Chocolate and Potato Chip Cookies
Yield 28-30 Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, cold
- 1 cup packed, light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon dark molasses
- 5 oz. dark chocolate – chips or broken pieces, plus a little extra for Step 7
- 5 oz. semi-sweet chocolate – chips of broken pieces, plus a little extra for Step 7
- 5 oz. potato chips, lightly crushed in your hand, plus a little extra for Step 7
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium-high speed until smooth about 2-3 minutes. Add both sugars and beat well, until light and fluffy.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the egg. Best until well-combined. Next add the molasses and beat again.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the flour – all at once – and beat on low until just-combined. Don’t over beat.
- Fold in the chocolate and potato chips.
- Use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop, or smaller if you like to form dough into balls. Drop balls onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
- Into each dough ball, press a few chocolate chips and some crushed potato chips. Press them very lightly – and just enough – to make the chocolate chips or chunks, and crushed potato chips stick to the surface.
- Bake at 350, 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. If you make your cookies smaller, check for doneness at about 9 minutes.
- Halfway through, be sure to switch the cookie pans/sheets from top to bottom and front to bake for more even baking.
- Remove from oven and transfer baking sheet to a wire rack to cool for 1-2 minutes before removing cookies to a rack to cool.
Notes
Notes:
- No nutrition analysis for this recipe. Frankly, you probably don’t want it.
- If you make the cookies smaller cut the cooking time by a few minutes and test to make sure they are done.
- I used Lay's original potato chips.
I took these on a camping trip and became very popular! Thanks for the tip about adding the chocolate and potato chips to the surface of the dough balls…it made a world of difference. What a fun dessert!