Ruffled by Ruffles

We have a Ruffle problem in our house. My husband, Mark, loves dip with Ruffles, but he considers only select chips to be “dippers” and leaves the rest for “eaters.” A dipper is a medium-large to large chip that can transfer an appropriate amount of dip to his mouth without getting his fingers in the dip. If he doesn’t see any dippers in an open bag, he opens a new one, leaving the eaters to their unknown fate and me with innumerable open bags in my pantry.

The open bags will continue to propagate until I manage his ever-growing collection. If I want to increase the consumption percentage, I dump remnants onto the counter and hand-sort the chips into a single bag of dippers and a single bag of eaters (which will eventually be thrown away once the chips go stale). Notice that I am the one sorting these chips even though I am not the one who eats them.

I was skimming the September issue of Costco Connection and came across an article, “Beyond the Crunch: The iconic potato chip is great for more than just snacking,” which included a recipe for Pretzel and Potato Chip Blondies. I wondered if it could be a partial answer to my problem. I went to the store, bought a bag of pretzels (avoiding all but the plain or butter-flavored ones), and whipped up a batch using about 1 cup of eaters.

The good news. Warmed up with a bit of vanilla ice cream, pure evil. Sweet, but not overly sweet. A little salty. I shared some with our friend, and their response was: “Those treats are pretty dangerous…”

The bad news. I have an open bag of pretzels in my pantry.

Molly Meehan

Pretzel and Potato Chip Blondies

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients

  

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 eggs at room temperature
• 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste or extract
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp fine salt
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips divided
• 1/2 cup crushed potato chips plus more for topping
• 1/2 cup crushed pretzels, plus more for topping
• 3 tbsp heavy cream
• flaky sea salt for topping (optional)

Method

 

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and line with parchment paper. Microwave the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl until melted. Whisk the brown sugar into the butter until smooth. Whisk in the eggs, vanilla, baking powder and salt. Slowly stir in the flour until incorporated. Fold in 1 cup chocolate chips, along with the potato chips and pretzels.
2. Pour the batter into the baking dish and bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until golden around the edges and just set in the middle.
3. Microwave the heavy cream in a large microwave-safe measuring cup for 20 to 30 seconds, or until hot. Add remaining ½ cup chocolate chips and let sit for a minute. Stir until smooth and pourable. Drizzle over the blondies. Top with additional crushed potato chips and pretzels. Top with flaky sea salt, if desired. Allow the topping to set before slicing into bars. Makes 12 to 16 servings.