Brownies topped with Potato Chips

I don’t really know what to say that doesn’t already seem obvious from the recipe title – chocolate and salt are amazing together. I don’t know how many years people have been sprinkling salt on chocolate chip cookies or chocolate bars. I’ve seen recipes and photos of brownies that have a topping of potato chips, but I never made them… until now.

The first time I made these, I did it with chips also in the brownie mix based on this Thrilllist recipe for Potato Chip Brownies– but nope. I didn’t like them because the chips inside the brownie turn out chewy. I suppose you could try it breaking up the chips into really small pieces (versus the “roughly broken up” they use) but unless your chips are pretty salty, I don’t think you’ll get much flavor or texture from them then, so what’s the point?

The other suggestion I can give you is that when you scatter your potato chips on top, think about where you will have your lines for the brownie squares and distribute it accordingly so that you don’t have to break a chip when you are cutting, sacrificing a chip in the process.

Ingredients:

• One 9 ounce package of Dark Chocolate Chips – I used SunSpire Organic 65% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips. Because of the high cacao content, these are richly chocolately. How good your brownies are is all about your chocolate, of course.
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, cut into pieces (I put each stick of butter I use in KitchenArt 32000 Gourmet ButterMate, Whitethis Buttermate measure and butter-cutter, so I just added them in 1 tablespoon pieces)
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cups of Kettle Chip or Ruffles potato chips, broken up into 1 inch pieces or smaller. It is totally ok while you are waiting to top your brownies if you also pour yourself a bowl of chips on the side to snack on while you are cooking.
  

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease 8-inch-square baking pan.
2. Take 1/3 cup of the chocolate chips and separate it from the rest. With the rest of the chocolate chips, heat it with the sugar, butter, and water in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir while the chocolate and butter melt together until they are well incorporated. Now pour into a large mixing bowl.
   
3. Into the bowl with melted chocolate, stir in the eggs one at a time with a whisk – add one egg at a time. Add in the vanilla extract, then the flour and salt and stir well. Fold in the remaining 1/3 cup of chocolate chips you had set aside. Yum, so chocolatey.
4. Pour your brownie potato chip goodness into the baking pan – the mixture should be thick. Add the 1 cup of potato chips on top.
   
5. Now bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out slightly sticky. Cool in pan and cut into bars when it is cooled – make sure it’s cool! Be patient!
   

These potato chip brownies are best when they have cooled, and the same day of before the potato chips begin to get stale. I think these would be really fun to make for a picnic or potluck as a fun update on a brownie!

Have you seen or used these butter measure and cutters before? They are awesome for cutting teeny slices of butter and when I’m cooking measuring and always cutting perfect pieces!

Which brownie pieces do you like the most? The ones from the center that have all soft gooey chocolate sides, or the ones from the edge that have the crispy side?