Vegas Cookies (Cashew Chips in Cookies)

Christmas Cupcake Murder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position. You'll need an UNGREASED cookie sheet, also.

## Ingredients

* 1 cup softened, salted butter ***(2 sticks, 1/2 pound, 8 ounces)***
* 1 cup white ***(granulated)*** sugar
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 2 large eggs ***(just whip them up in a glass with a fork)***
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 and 1/2 cups flour ***(pack it down in the cup when you measure it)***
* 1 and 1/2 cups finely crushed plain potato chips ***(measure AFTER crushing)***
* 1 cup finely chopped salted cashews ***(measure AFTER chopping - I used Planters)***
* 1 to 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
* 1/3 cup white ***(granulated)*** sugar ***(for coating dough balls)***

## Directions

**Hannah's 1st Note:  Use regular potato chips, the thin salty ones. Don't use baked chips, or rippled chips, or chips with the peels on, or kettle fried, or flavored, or anything that's supposed to be better for you than those wonderfully greasy, salty, old-fashioned potato chips.**

* In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar together.
* Add the eggs and mix them in thoroughly.
* Sprinkle in the salt, baking soda, and vanilla extract. Mix everything up together.
* Add the flour in half-cup increments, mixing thoroughly after each addition.
* If you haven't done so already, crush your potato chips and add them to your bowl. Mix them in thoroughly.
* If you have a food processor, use it with the steel blade to chop the salted cashews into small pieces. Then add them to your bowl and mix them in.
* If you are using an electric mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl and take the bowl out of the mixer.
* Give the bowl a thorough stir by hand with a wooden spoon or a mixing spoon.
* Add the chocolate chips, mixing them in by hand.
* Put the final third-cup of white sugar in a small bowl. You will use this to coat your cookie dough balls after you form them.
* Form one-inch dough balls with your impeccably clean hands and place them in the bowl with the sugar, no more than two balls at a time. Roll them around with your fingers until they are coated with sugar.
* Place the coated cookie dough balls on an UNGREASED cookie sheet, 12 to a standard-sized sheet.

**Hannah's 2nd Note:  You can also line your cookie sheets with parchment paper, but be sure to leave little "ears" at the top and the bottom of the paper. That way you can simply pull the paper, cookies and all, over to your wire racks after they are baked.**

* Flatten the cookie dough balls a bit with the palm of your hand so that they won't roll off on their way to the oven.
* Bake your Vegas Cookies at 350 degrees F., for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies are starting to turn light golden brown at the edges.
* Remove the baked cookies from the oven and place the cookie sheets on cold stovetop burners or wire racks on the kitchen counter.
* Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets for 2 minutes.
* After the 2-minute cooling time, remove the cookies from the cookie sheets and place them on wire racks to cool completely.

Yield:  Between 6 and 8 dozen crunchy, very tasty cookies that your guests will love. They will also groan loudly when they ask about the name and you tell them Andrea's pun.

Serve these cookies with tall glasses of milk or strong black coffee.