Sweet & Salty Potato Chip Cookies

Never know what to do with the crumbs at the bottom of the potato chip bag? Whip up a batch of Potato Chip cookies for a sweet yet salty dessert idea. Your family will love them!

Years ago, I realized I’m really not the kinda gal who has a sweet tooth. I prefer salty snacks. Today, I’m married to a man who adores sweets. He loves sitting down with a handful of cookies and milk for a late-night snack.

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Best of Both Sweet and Salty

Because of the difference in our preferences here, making Potato Chip cookies has become basically a staple food in our house. I get my bag of potato chips (dipped in my Best Ever French Onion dip). And I can use the crumbs to make something sweet for my sweet hubby.

Potato Chip History

The potato chip was invented in 1853 by George Crum. Crum was a Native American/African American chef at the Moon Lake Lodge resort in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA. French fries were popular at the restaurant, and one day a diner complained that the fries were too thick. Although Crum made a thinner batch, the customer was still unsatisfied. Crum finally made fries that were too thin to eat with a fork, hoping to annoy the extremely fussy customer. The customer, surprisingly enough, was happy – and potato chips were invented! Crum’s chips were originally called Saratoga Chips and potato crunches. They were soon packaged and sold in New England – Crum later opened his own restaurant.

William Tappendon manufactured and marketed the chips in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1895. In the 1920s, a salesman named Herman Lay sold potato chips to the southern USA (selling the chips from the trunk of his car). In 1926, Laura Scudder (who owned a potato chip factory in Monterey Park, California) invented a wax paper potato chip bag to keep the chips fresh and crunchy. With further technology, innovation, and a countless number of variations and flavors, potato chips have only grown in popularity over the years!

History- Jones Potato Chips.com

Discovering Potato Chip Cookies

I personally didn’t know a darn thing about Potato Chip Cookies until I was in my mid-teenage years. My snacking preference was chips, definitely. I also remember my Dad getting very upset at the waste at the bottom of the bag.

Remember, we grew up pretty darned poor. Wasting any food at all was deeply upsetting to my father. So when I kept getting in trouble for not wanting to eat all the crumbs in the bottom of the bag, I knew I had to find a way to use them.

This was before the days of the internet. I couldn’t just jump online and search Pinterest for ideas on how to use up the crumbs. So I started talking… something I’m pretty good at. *wink*

I asked my Grandma about what I could do to stay out of trouble with Dad over those pesky crumbs. She told me that I could use them on top of casseroles and such instead of the going Corn Flake trend. (Yes, it was the 80’s. Even fried chicken got Corn Flakes. LOL)

That just seemed to boring to me, even though I did start using them on top of my Tuna Casserole. That was simply a temporary solution to a much larger problem. I wanted to find a way to use them all on their own without having to make so many casseroles.

Old-Fashioned Homemaking Wisdom

One day at church, another woman overheard me complaining (yet again) about my Potato Chip Problem. She asked me why I didn’t just keep them and use them in cookies.

I was taken aback at the idea that I could BAKE with potato chips. Who came up with this idea? Would it be good? Would anyone in my house eat them?

She gave me her off the cuff rendition of how to make Potato Chip cookies, and I gave it a whirl. Granted, it was trial and error. We all know how that generation shared recipes. A pinch of this…. enough flour to stiffen… some of this….. You get the idea.

But after trying a few times, I finally managed to recreate her recipe to what I found to be the perfect Potato Chip cookie.

Storage for Potato Chip Crumbs

We all know how many crumbs are in the bottom of those bags. Even though I swear sometimes that there is always more air in the bag than anything else. So what happens when you know you don’t have enough for a batch of cookies? Or if you just don’t want to bake right now? Store those babies in an airtight container until you need them!

I use my Foodsaver with the mason jar lid attachment!

A lot of people don’t even know these exist. You really just take out your Foodsaver and your mason jar (with a lid) and suck all of the air out of it for long-term storage. I use this for my dehydrated foods all the time. It works like a charm.

Sweet and Salty Potato Chip Cookies

5 from 2 votes

Potato Chip Cookies

Never know what to do with the crumbs at the bottom of the potato chip bag? Make some Potato Chip cookies for a sweet yet salty dessert idea.

Print Recipe

Prep Time:15 minutes mins

Cook Time:15 minutes mins

Total Time:30 minutes mins

Ingredients

• 2 cups butter softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups crushed salted potato chips

Instructions

• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease baking sheets.
• Mash the butter, sugar, and vanilla extract together in a bowl until creamy and well combined; mix in the flour a little at a time. Gently fold in the potato chips. Drop dough onto the prepared baking sheets by teaspoonful.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the edges are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove cookies from sheets immediately and cool on wire racks.

Course: Baking

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cookie jar, cookies, dessert, desserts, potato chips, salty, snacks, sweet, sweet & salty, sweets

Never waste those potato chip crumbs again. Store them and make a batch of Potato Chip Cookies. Your family will be pleasantly surprised.

Bonus: You’re helping cut down your household food waste!! Yay!!

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