Game Day Week 2: Chocolate Chip Potato Chip Cookies!

This week's Game Day snack was supposed to be something with spaetzle, but that will be coming up next week now. That recipe is half done (the spaetzle is made, but I didn't put the rest of the snack together yet), because I got distracted yesterday by something I saw on the Cooking Channel.

My husband and I were watching one of the Unique Sweets episodes and it was about cookies - one of my favorite subjects. There is this place in Chicago that had these really delicious looking cookies, some including potato chips.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have had chocolate covered potato chips in my life and they are simply, awesome. I love them. They have the right combination of sweet and salty, and, in my opinion, I like them much better than chocolate covered pretzels.

So the thought of chocolate chip cookies with potato chips really excited me - and I couldn't believe I never thought to experiment with that before. So, to make me happy, my husband sent me out to get some Baked Lays and he started whipping up a batch of our favorite chocolate chip batter.

With the first batch of cookies, we decided to just sprinkle some potato chips on the top of the cookie after they had been baking for a few minutes. The result was okay - I didn't think you tasted the potato chips enough.

So for the second batch he sprinkled some crushed up chips into the batter first, and then also put some on top of the cookie a few minutes after they had been baking. This time they were fantastic! You tasted the chocolate chips with the salty potato chips and I LOVED them!

We ended up bringing some of them over to a friends house last night and their three year old dove right in and thought they were pretty tasty! She didn't even seem phased that the chocolate chip cookies had a little something different about them!

So these are the perfect Game Day snack, whether you are at home watching the game or our tailgating. Salty and sweet, people will munch on these happily!

They are easy to make - just use your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, but use half of what the salt content is because the potato chips will add their own salt factor. We found that crushing the chips and adding some into the batter worked best.

After we put them in the oven to cook (usually 8-10 minutes), we opened the oven after just about 3 or 4 minutes and pressed some potato chips onto the tops of the cookies and returned them to baking.

Happy Munching!

Sunday Game Day Snack - Potato Chip Chicken Lollipops!

Today's Game Day snack is going out with a bang as it is the last Game Day snack of the regular season. I haven't decided if there will be Game Day snacks for the playoff games - my January is a little busy. And I realized the other week we're going to be away for the Super Bowl which means I don't need to come up with tons of appetizers for my husband and I to snack on.

So I had to make this one good...and it was! To my surprise, this was delicious. It's incredibly easy and very versatile as well. Potato Chip Chicken!! I originally found the recipe here.

I used plain potato chips this time, because that is what we had in the house, but I can totally see using BBQ or cheddar and sour cream. Or even Doritos. Or the Baked Lays variety! So many possibilities...

Here are the ingredients:

1 package chicken tenderloins (you can cut these in half to make nuggets or keep them long. I kept them long).
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
2 cups crushed potato chips
lollipop sticks from a craft or party store
seasonings...
*(I used crushed red pepper flakes and black pepper to season these up a little since I was using plain potato chips)
Your favorite dips, such as honey mustard or BBQ sauce.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Grease a baking sheet.

Crush potato chips onto a plate.

In a large bowl, whisk together egg and milk.

Dip the chicken into the egg mixture, then coat well with potato chips. Repeat this to do a double coat - it holds up better.


Spread the tenderloins onto the baking sheet.


Bake for 10 minutes. Turn nuggets over, and bake for 10 minutes more, until golden brown.

Remove baking sheet from oven, and insert a lollipop stick into each tenderloin.

Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauces and enjoy!!

"Crunchy Cheese Nibblet" Appetizers

While we were stuck in the house during the East Coast blizzard this weekend, I experimented with an appetizer idea.

I wanted to use up some leftover potato chips we had in the house, (I'm all about trying to USE the food we have lately, instead of buying more and more) and I actually found a recipe on AllRecipes.com from a woman named Janis. This is her recipe here.

I tried out her exact recipe, but I also made a batch using some different tastes.

She got mostly positive reviews on her creation...but I definitely have a few ideas on how to improve this for my tastes. All in all, my husband and I enjoyed the appetizer, but agreed it needed some tweaking the next go round.

Here are the ingredients I used for both batches:

1 cup finely shredded Cheddar cheese (yellow)
1 cup crushed potato chips
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon ground mustard
crushed red pepper flakes

1 cup finely shredded Cheddar cheese (sharp white)
1 cup crushed potato chips
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Bryant & Cooper BBQ sauce
parsley flakes

Directions (same concept for both)

In a bowl, combine all ingredients.


Shape dough into 3/4-in. balls.

Place on ungreased baking sheets and flatten slightly.


Bake at 375 degrees F for 5-8 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack.

Serve warm.


Now, here is what I would have changed:

1. I did "flatten" the balls slightly... I think next time I am keeping them in ball shape so they can be served more like a cheese ball with a toothpick.

2. They need slightly more flavoring. Granted, I used plain potato chips...and these would have worlds more flavor if you used like, BBQ Chips or Sour Cream & Cheddar or anything you like. But, if you use plain chips, add more more spice or sauce or whatever.

3. They needed closer to 10 minutes cooking time.

Otherwise, kudos to this lady for being inventive. Here's to experimenting with food!