Hello! What did you do this weekend? I delivered some cookies to a jewelry store that is handing them out to shoppers, helped my friend David throw a fabulous Christmas party, and braved the Brooklyn Costco mid-afternoon in the name of New Year’s Eve. Insider tip: don’t do that last thing. We still don’t have a tree, but it definitely feels like the holidays. Except for the part where it is 65 degrees. I don’t even need a coat! But anyway…let’s talk about cookies.
Today is Day 9 of Twelve Days of Cookies! Are you a fan of sweet and salty desserts? I hope so. Last night, while we were doing some well-deserved vegging out, I was stuffing my face with potato chips and chasing them with chocolate-covered pecans. Henry asked what on earth I was eating, and when I told him/asked if he wanted some, he paused before turning me down. He’s not a dessert person, so that combination probably sounds vile to him. But, trust me, it is EVERYTHING. I am a sweet and salty fan all the way. The recipe I’m bringing you today is full of crushed potato chips and M&Ms, all baked into soft and chewy cookies. Yes, potato chips and M&Ms. Together. In perfect harmony. Trust me. You want to make these. You need these.
This dough base is identical to these Salted Caramel Chocolate-Covered Pecan Cookies. It’s soft and chewy thanks to room temperature butter, an extra egg yolk, and cornstarch. The dough has a full cup of light brown sugar and just a smidge of granulated sugar. The molasses in the light brown sugar helps to keep these cookies super soft and, of course, adds a ton of caramel flavor. Yum! Dry ingredients are added in three installments. Once the dough is thoroughly mixed, it’s time to add the M&Ms and potato chips.
Let’s talk about potato chips for a minute. I prefer the thick, ruffled variety. If you can’t find those or just don’t enjoy them, I recommend using kettle-cooked potato chips. Don’t use thin chips. If they can’t scoop up dip without breaking, they’re not the ones to use here. You see, this dough has to chill for 90 minutes. That is ample time for the moisture in the butter, eggs, and brown sugar to seep into the potato chip bits and make them soft and a little soggy. If we were to use thin, flimsy chips, they’d all be soft by the time they went into the oven. They might be so soft that they practically melt into the cookies. What’s the point of adding potato chips if you can’t even tell they’re in there?! Even using thick chips, some moisture will still get in, but when the cookies bake up, there will still be plenty of crispy pieces. The crunchy chips, melty M&Ms, and chewy cookie base are textural magic.
M&Ms Potato Chip Cookies are perfect for holiday cookie exchanges, food gifting, and your dessert trays. And they’re a good option if you have little helpers. Let them crush up the chips and pour in the M&Ms! And taste-test, of course 😊 If, like me, sweet and salty is one of your favorite flavor combinations, you must must must (!) make these cookies. Between the afore-mentioned textural magic and festive colors of the M&Ms, these are guaranteed to be a hit! 
Want more Twelve Days of Cookies? Check out my Chocolate Crinkles, Salted Caramel Chocolate-Covered Pecan Cookies, Peppermint Mocha Cookies, Oreo-Stuffed Andes Peppermint Crunch Cookies, Apple Cider Snaps, Whipped Shortbread Snowballs, Eggnog Sandwich Cookies, and Red Velvet Peppermintdoodles. Three more cookie recipes are on the way before December 25!
M&Ms Potato Chip Cookies
makes about 3.5 dozen cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
1 cup M&Ms Minis Baking Bits*
1 1/2 cups crushed ruffled potato chips*
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together, flour, cornstarch, baking
soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a separate large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer until it is fluffy and lighter in color. Beat in light brown sugar and granulated sugar, followed by the egg and egg yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients in three installments, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Fold in M&Ms Minis Baking Bits and crushed potato chips. Cover the dough and chill it for 90 minutes, or up to three days.
Preheat oven to 350F. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
Scoop dough by the tablespoon, and roll into balls. Set dough balls at least two inches apart on prepared pans. Bake 8-10 minutes, until they no longer look raw. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for five minutes before removing to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with all remaining dough.
Cookies keep covered at room temperature for up to five days.
Notes:
1. Regular M&Ms will work here, but I like how the Baking Bits disperse themselves.
2. I use Ruffles Original.
When thinking up recipes for the week between Christmas and the New Year—a time when I have tons of leftovers, don’t want to take on any intense kitchen projects, and mostly just need a nap—I knew it had to be easy.
Eeeeeeeaaaaasy. E-A-S-Y. No chill, one bowl, no mixer, limited ingredients—easy!
That’s exactly what these Potato Chip Clusters are: golden, salty-sweet, lightly-candied morsels that require four ingredients, come together in five minutes and bake in seventeen.
They’re brown at the edges and crispy throughout, and stay that way for days. You won’t have to worry too much about softening since their primary structural component is a single egg white.
I envision these as the perfect thing to go alongside a cocktail, mocktail or glass of champagne on New Year’s Eve, but I also think they’d be great for Super Bowl Sunday, drizzled with chocolate and tucked into a cookie tin next Christmas, or whipped together any old time you need to knock out the last of a bag of potato chips.
e2 bakes brooklyn 