Potato Chip~Pecan Cookies

I know this sounds like a funny combination and honestly, it's not my original recipe, but one of my favorites from a December 2004 Fine Cooking magazine.  And, I realize this doesn't seem very "Chinese New Yearish," but it coincides with it for us and that's why I baked them today.

Three years ago, Kelly gave Erin and I a Christmas present of a book called Stealing Buddha's Dinner: A Memoir by Bich Minh Nguyen and had set up our first blog together that she called "The Baker's Dozen."  Her idea was for us to choose 13 books to read that had an underlying theme of food, and blog about this association in the story.  We read two books before Kelly informed us we weren't blogging correctly!  Erin did a book report and I got off the track with my own recipes! LOL!!

However, this is a wonderful autobiography of a young Vietnamese girl, growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan with a rapacious hunger for an American identity.  This hunger is transmuted into a passion for American Food--Pringles, Kit Kats, Toll House Cookies, etc.--in other words, what we would consider today as junk food, instead of her Buddhist Grandmother's delicacies that she made for special occasions, like the new year.  That's when I found this recipe in my Fine Cooking magazine and added it to the blog as my contribution to understanding the book.

Potato Chip~Pecan Cookies
8 oz. (1 cup/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8 oz. (a scant 2 cups) King Arthur all-purpose flour
1/2 cup finely crushed potato chips
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350F-degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment.

In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Scrape down the sides and add the vanilla.  Mix once again.  
For accuracy, it's better to weigh the flour because, did you know, that a cup of flour can weigh as much as 4 1/2 ounces depending how you scoop it up.

 However, if you do not have a scale, here is a sure way to get a more accurate measurement.
 #1 - Stir the flour
#2 - Spoon the flour into the 1-cup measurement
#3 - Sweep the cup level with a straight edge (like a knife)
Add the flour, the crushed potato chips and pecans and mix just until the dough comes together.

The recipe actually calls for forming the dough into 1-inch balls, but I use a scoop that is closer to 1-tablespoon for this step.

Scoop up the dough and transfer it to your opposite hand to form into a ball.  Place on the prepared baking sheet.  Repeat, spacing about 2-inches apart on the baking sheet.  Use the bottom of a glass or a tart tamper, dipped in additional granulated sugar to press down the balls.

For this larger size, I baked them for 12 minutes--until I have a golden brown coloring around the edges.

I also rotated my baking pan half way through the time to produce even browning.  My version, with the larger size made 28 cookies; the original recipe says it will make 30, so I'm not too far off.

What came out of this first attempt at blogging was my present day blog that Kelly set up and decided I was better suited for--telling my stories through food.  Kelly also went off and started a blog with her best friend, Kandyce (Notions & Threads); a much better match for her vision of sharing her everyday projects with the others.  Every time I make these cookies, I think of Kelly and Erin and Bich Minh Nguyen's book that brought me where I am today.  I've never tried making these cookies with Pringles, even though that's a guilty favorite of mine too!  Enjoy!