Straight from the Cookie Jar: Extra-Special Chocolate Chip Cookies

It seems like the quest to find the elusive “perfect” Chocolate Chip cookie is much like my ongoing quest to find the best macaroni and cheese.  So many recipes, so little time.  Since I don’t have a terrible sweet tooth, I don’t try a million chocolate chip cookies to find “the” one, but every now and then one intrigues me enough to hit our oven.  Such is the case with these Extra-Special Chocolate Chip Cookies.  What’s so special about them?  The potato chips.

The recipe comes from Woman’s World magazine, and I promise you won’t readily pick out the fact that there are potato chips in the cookies.  You do notice a slight crunch here and there, and the tiniest taste of salt, but just enough to force your hand back in the cookie jar again and again.  Trust me.  And hey, it’s the perfect way to finish up some dregs of potato chips that are lurking in the pantry.

I noticed this recipe made larger sized cookies, a little too big for the kids to grab for a snack, so when I was making the recipe, I made some larger and some smaller, perfect for little hands.  Don’t do that.  When the cookies were cooled, I tried one of the small ones and was very “eh” about it.  Then I went back later and had a larger one.  Nothing “eh” about it.  So good, and soft, and crispy, and, well, extra-special, just like the recipe says.  Even better when warm from the oven.  I get roughly 16 cookies when I make this recipe, and we made it twice last week.  I’d say it’s a keeper.  No doubt.

When it came to last week’s menu plan, I was pretty proud of myself.  I only missed one recipe, the omelet.  I did need to rearrange the days a bit because things came up, but since I shopped on the weekend for the groceries, it was easy to be flexible since I had everything on hand already.  I did have to nix the meal for Saturday since we ended up having company over (a friend I haven’t seen in 23 years – how cool is that?!), but that’s still like an 80% success rate, so I’m pretty happy with that.

This week’s a little screwy with Madeline being sick and us being housebound.  I made a plan over the weekend, but haven’t made it to the grocery store yet.  Hopefully I can go tomorrow and stick with the plan.  If not, then I plan to work on the freezer and make a dent in it.  I don’t know how it gets so full so fast!

Monday: Dinner out

Tuesday: Raid the Fridge and Pomegranate Martinis (new WW recipe)

Wednesday: Company over: Artichoke Bread (new TOH recipe), Roasted Cauliflower (new WW recipe), Meatloaf (new Martha recipe), Toffee Topped Fudge Brownie Tarts (new Ultimate Cookies recipe)

Thursday: Lunch – Mushroom and Swiss Panini (new WW recipe), Cranberry Shortbread Bars (new TOH recipe), Raid the Fridge for Dinner

Friday: Marilyn’s Mac and Cheese (new Country Living recipe), Sherry Bleu Cheese Spread (new GH recipe)

And lastly, today’s daily photo.

Project 365
January 11, 2010, Photo #11

One would think I have OCD or a little too much free time on my hands.  It could be both.  Some days neither.  Free time?  Seriously?  This is what happens when HP keeps you on the phone for a ridiculous amount of time but is still unable to fix your printer.  Moreover, they make it worse.  Hey, at least the pens in the pen cup, one of four on my desk, are now color-coordinated.  I love this pen cup.  I originally used them as “goody bags” for Madeline’s first birthday last year, a find for $1 at Wal-Mart.  Good recycling, I’d say.

Extra-Special Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe courtesy of Woman’s World magazine

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
10 tablespoons butter, room temperature
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups potato chips with ridges, about 3 oz
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, about 6 oz

Preheat oven to 350.  In large bowl, combine flour and baking soda; reserve.  On medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes.  Beat in egg and vanilla until combined.  Add flour mixture; beat until just combined.  Beat in potato chips until broken into small pieces and dough forms.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop by 1/4 cupfuls, 3″ apart, onto ungreased baking sheets; gently press to flatten to 3″ diameter (I didn’t press).  Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden.  Cool 5 minutes on pans.  Transfer to rack; cool completely.

Cate’s note:  Truth be told, I put all the ingredients in one big bowl, mix by hand and put it in the oven.  Easy peasy.