Gail’s Crazy-Good Potato Chip Cookies – a Salty, Sweet Sensation!

One of the best cookie recipes ever, Gail’s Crazy-Good Potato Chip Cookies are the perfect blend of sweet and salty. Made with Lays classic potato chips, these easy homemade cookies are sweet, salty, buttery, delicious – perfection in every bite!

Origin of This Potato Chip Cookie Recipe

This cookie recipe is the ultimate “blast-from-the-past.”  Spanning decades, it has been passed down through three generations of our family.  Here’s the story of where our version of this family-favorite recipe came from:

Who’s Gail, you ask, and why have I named this cookie recipe after her?  Gail is my sister.  And, she’s Tiffany’s (my former blogging partner on Toot Sweet 4 Two) mother.  And, she’s the Princesses P’s grandmother (Tiffany’s two daughters who make appearances all over this blog).  More than 40 years ago, Gail gave me this recipe for potato chip cookies that she got somewhere, the source long ago forgotten.

(Update:  per my other sister’s, Dawn, comment in the comment section below, both she and Gail had the same Home Economics teacher many moons ago, a year apart, and both learned to make potato chip cookies from this teacher in junior high school.  Teachers rock!).

Other than knowing that this particular Lays potato chip cookie recipe came from a teacher in a home economics class in a small town outside of Nashville, Tennessee more than 45 years ago, the potato chip cookies’ origin remains a mystery.  However, there are many versions all over the web:

• Some have all kinds of add-ins (chocolate chips, pecans, walnuts, M&M’s, butterscotch chips, etc.).
• Others have extra ingredients, like eggs, baking soda, and brown sugar.
• And, some say to use unsalted butter, but then they add the salt back in by saying to use a teaspoon of salt!
• Still, others don’t use powdered sugar to dust the cookies once they come out of the oven.
• Others say to refrigerate the dough before baking while others say not too, that it will make the potato chips soggy.
• Some bake these cookies at a lower temperature.
• And, finally, some say that you can freeze either the batter or the finished cookies.

All I can say about all of these differences in potato chip cookie recipes is that I’ve never tried any other version.  For example, because I only make one batch at a time, we never have any leftovers, so I’ve never tried to freeze them.

My philosophy:  why fix it if it ain’t broke?  And, our family’s recipe for potato chip cookies isn’t broken!

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Your family already has a favorite recipe for cookies, right?  Think again!  Because these addicting (in a good way) potato chip cookies are melt-in-your-mouth amazing and will fast replace the current family favorite!  With only 6 ingredients, they are easy to make and delicious – it’s that sweet, salty combination that satisfies on every level!

Ingredients in Potato Chip Cookies

These potato chip cookies are what I call “classic,” in that they don’t have any add-ins (chocolate chips, for example).  There are only six ingredients:

1. Butter
2. Granulated Sugar
3. All-Purpose Flour
4. Vanilla Extract
5. Lays Classic Potato Chips
6. Powdered Sugar (Confectioner’s Sugar)

These ingredients are usually things you already have in your pantry and refrigerator, so easy to make when the urge strikes.

My theory on potential potato chip cookie failure is threefold:

1. The baker uses margarine instead of butter.  That’s a no-no.  Only butter will work in this recipe.  In fact, when baking recipes call for butter, I always use butter.  I only substitute margarine IF the recipe says “butter or margarine.”
2. You don’t use enough butter.  This recipe calls for a pound of butter.  You might think this is a typo; it is not!
3. The baker uses some other brand of potato chips other than Lays Classic Potato Chips.  We’ve always used Lays Classic Potato Chips with great success (no, this is not a post sponsored by Lays; we just prefer this brand!).  If you use thicker (think kettle chips) or wavy chips, you risk the possibility that they will become a bit soggy.  And, of course, don’t use flavored chips!  Who wants BBQ or Sour Cream Potato Chip Cookies!

How to Make Potato Chip Cookies

Over the years, this cookie has become a family favorite of my neighbors, too.  Years ago, their daughters attempted to make the recipe without success.  Sorely disappointed, the youngest daughter, Josie, asked if she could come over one day and make cookies with me so that she could make them under my tutelage.  Of course, I said yes!  These are photos of Josie from our day of making potato chip cookies together several years ago.  Potato Chip Cookies are so easy to make that even kids can make them, too!

In the above photo, Josie is opening the butter, softened to room temperature, and placing it in a glass mixing bowl.  The photo above is not an optical illusion – yes, indeed, there are three sticks of butter in the bowl and Josie is adding a fourth for a total of a pound of butter in the bowl!

With an electric mixer, cream together the softened butter and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl until well combined.  Add the vanilla, then flour, and mix thoroughly with the mixer.

Semi-crush the Lays Potato Chips; put a handful in a plastic bag, seal it (taking out the air), and crush them.  Don’t crush them into oblivion – instead, they need to be small pieces but not crumbs.  Then, pour them into your measuring cup.  If you don’t have enough chips, repeat!

Still using the electric mixer, mix the potato chips into the cookie batter.  Drop by teaspoonfuls (or use a cookie scoop) onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Place in a preheated oven (350 degrees) and bake for 8 to 12 minutes (depends on your oven).  The cookies will be pale in color, so don’t overbake them!

Josie testing the batter to make sure it’s perfect!

Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a cooling rack.  Sprinkle each cookie liberally with a teaspoon of powdered sugar, as Josie is doing in the above photo.  Potato chip cookies with powdered sugar is a must!  The powdered sugar offsets the saltiness for the perfect balance!

My husband, Charlie, is a genius (sometimes).  This was one of his genius inspirations.  One day after I’d made a complete mess of the kitchen while baking cookies, he said to me “why don’t you put a kitchen towel under the cooling racks?  Then, you just have a dirty towel and not a dirty kitchen!” 

What an inspired idea!

Well, truth be told, he does 90% of the dishes in our family and he was just tired of cleaning up my mess!  I’m a messy cook.

Food Styling for the Photo Shoot

After the first batch of cookies was done, Josie and I set up our display for our photoshoot.  I got out a table runner and placed it across the table in the opposite direction of normal use.  This is my attempt to correct the glare created by my shiny kitchen table (noticeable in the upper left and right corners)!  Then, I got out a charger (for a plate); it actually looks like a cabinet door, but it’s a plate charger with a beautiful gray crackle finish.  Since there was gray in the table runner, I thought this would make a pretty picture.

Then, I got out some small blue dishes.  The cut-crystal bowl on the left is actually a candy dish.  Josie and I piled potato chips in it, arranging it just so and then made a pretty pile of cookies in the paler blue bowl.

Here’s an overhead view of these amazingly delicious potato chip cookies with powdered sugar on top.

Will you do me a favor?  Would you share my post on social media?  The pinnable images scattered throughout this post are for your Pinterest boards so that you can bookmark this post and come back to it later.  Thanks for sharing!

Delicious buttery, sweet and salty Potato Chip Cookies, made with Lays potato chips, are everyone's favorite homemade cookie! #cookierecipes Click To Tweet

The pictures of  Josie above were taken many years ago when she was a little girl.  She’s all grown up now.  Here’s what Josie looks like now:

She’s a beauty, isn’t she?  And, beautiful inside, too.  Plus, smart and kind and loving and special!

Here’s the recipe for Gail’s Crazy-Good Potato Chip Cookies:

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Kitchen Equipment and Supplies Needed to Make Potato Chip Cookies

You don’t need special equipment to make potato chip cookies, but this list of baking supplies will help you achieve success (this post contains affiliate links for your convenience.  Click here to read my full disclosure policy.):

Mixing Bowls || Measuring Cups || Measuring Spoons  || Hand-held Electric Mixer || Spatula || Cookie Scoop || Cookie Sheets || Cooling Racks || Kitchen Towels

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Tootles,

Other Dessert Recipes from Toot Sweet 4 Two’s Archives:

Dreamy Triple Chocolate Cookies

Homemade Depression-Era Crazy Chocolate Cake aka Wacky Cake

Firecracker Pie Crust Stars

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