Potato chip chocolate cookie and some kitchen ‘innovation’

A free hanging whisk

Savory and sweet in one cookie

There is something very magical about salt. I will not go into the science of it but every cook knows that salt is able to amplify the sweetness of food.

Long before there were salty caramel snacks, there was black soy sauce on pineapple and prune powder for tomato to ramp up the fruity sweet. I even have a friend who sprinkles fine salt on watermelon !

Savory is the new sweet. The idea of potato chips in cookies is not new but it spawns  a new world of savory-sweet combinations.

It decides where it wants to whisk

‘Innovation’ in my kitchen  arises out of need because the cheapskate in me will not part with a couple of hundred bucks for a KA. Goodness, I don’t even own a proper mixing bowl. Maybe I will one day but as of now, I get into the ‘innovation mode’ when necessity forces me to a corner. Hubs was amused seeing the hanging electric whisk over a pot. It  does its job without tiring me out and even moves about on its own around the pot.

I love to bake but hate to wash, so I used a Ziploc to mix the ingredients instead of using a container. It even allows me to crush the potato chips while feeling for the desired texture ( through the plastic ) without dirtying my hand.

Finally,  I used a plastic bag over a measuring spoon to portion out the cookies. A little tug on the plastic and the formed cookie pops off the spoon to the tray. No knocking or tapping or dusting needed. It saves the agony of  washing a greasy plastic spoon too.

So here goes, 60 mini cookies and all. Hope you have fun as much as I did.

Makes 60 mini cookies.

Ingredients and method :

Grease 2 shallow baking trays. Preheat oven to 140C.

Whisk these until pale and fluffy :

120g butter

½ cup white sugar

In a Ziploc bag, toss and mix these :

1 cup chocolate chips ( dark choc )

½ cup almond meal

¼ sea salt, crushed

1 cup crushed potato chips, any of your fave flavor ( regular salted )

120g cookie flour / plain flour

zest of one lemon ( avoid grating the white pith )

Use a ½ tablespoon measuring spoon for portioning out the cookies. Insert the spoon into the corner of a plastic bag to scoop the batter and for easy release of the cookie.

Space cookies ½ inch apart. They do not spread very much but still, it is good to ‘mind the gap’.

Ensure  uniform cooking throughout the cookie. I did this by making a depression on the dome part of the scooped dough.

Bake at 140C for 20 minutes. 22 minutes if  you wish it to be very crispy and browned.

Cool well on a rack. When cookies are firmed up, remove and store in an airtight container.

Verdict : Rich and chocolaty, crispy with light crumb.  The lemon zest awakens the senses. Potato chips are not pronounced though. Could do with more chips next time ( ½ cup more ? )

Worth doing again!