Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt Potato Chips

I love salty and sweet together, so it’s not surprising that when someone gave me a dark chocolate-dipped potato chip, I thought it was the best thing I ever tasted. Not long after, I was making chocolate chip cookies to take to a friend’s baby shower and I got the idea to throw crumbled potato chips in the cookie dough. The cookies turned out amazing, and now potato chips are a standard addition to my chocolate chip cookies. I like to use very dark, semi-sweet chocolate, going to the market and buying big chunks of it and chopping it up to store in a tin; otherwise I buy packaged chocolate chunks, not chips, for these because big pieces melt into the cookies better.

Ingredient Note: It’s important to use artisanal or natural-type potato chips; something a bit thicker than old-school super-thin potato chips. Crumble them until the pieces are the size of cornflakes.

Ingredients

• 2 cups unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

• 2 cups packed brown sugar 

• 2 cups granulated sugar 

• 2 large eggs 

• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 

• 2 teaspoons hot water 

• 3 cups all-purpose flour 

• 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder 

• 1 teaspoons baking soda 

• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt or kosher salt 

• 12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into 1/2-inch chunks (about 2 cups) 

• 1 1/2 cups crumbled gourmet potato chips (see Ingredient Note) 

• Flaky sea salt for sprinkling

Directions

1. Position one oven rack in the lower third and another in the upper third of the oven. Preheat to 325°F.

2. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and both sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes, stopping every few minutes to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the eggs, vanilla, and hot water, and mix to combine.

3. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of the mixer and mix on low speed until no flour is visible. Stir in the chocolate chunks and 1 cup of the potato chip crumbles.

4. Scoop heaping tablespoons of the dough (about 1 1/2 inches each) onto an ungreased baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches between them. Sprinkle a pinch of flaky sea salt and press a few of the remaining potato chip crumbles on each dough ball.

5. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown, rotating the baking sheets from front to back and from the upper and lower racks halfway through for even baking. Set the cookies aside to cool slightly before removing them from the baking sheet. Bake the remaining dough in the same way.