Butterscotch Crunch Cookies

Banana Cream Pie Murder

The following recipe can be doubled if you wish. Do not, however, double the baking soda. Use one and a half teaspoons—2 teaspoons is too much.

## Ingredients

* 1 cup softened butter ***(2 sticks, ½ pound, 8 ounces)***
* 2 cups white ***(granulated)***sugar
* 3 Tablespoons molasses
* 2 teaspoons vanilla
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 beaten eggs ***(just whip them up in the glass with a fork)***
* 2 cups crushed salted potato chips ***(measure AFTER crushing)*** ***(I used regular, thin, unflavored, salted Lay's potato chips)***
* 2 and ½ cups all-purpose flour ***(pack it down in the cup when you measure it)***
* 1 and ½ cups butterscotch chips ***(I used Nestlé, a 10-ounce by weight bag, not quite 2 cups, but you can use the whole bag if you like lots of chips)***

**Lisa's 1st Note: The butter in this recipe should be at room temperature unless you have an un-insulated kitchen and it's winter in the Midwest. Then you'd better soften it a little.**

**Hannah's 1st Note: 5 to 6 cups of whole potato chips will crush into about 2 cups. Crush them by hand in a plastic bag, not with a food processor. They should be the size of coarse gravel when they're crushed.**

## Directions

* Preheat oven to 350°F, rack in the middle position.
* Mix the softened butter with the white sugar and the molasses. Beat them until the mixture is light and fluffy, and the molasses is completely mixed in.
* Add the vanilla and baking soda. Mix them in thoroughly.
* If you haven't already done so, break the eggs into a glass and whip them up with a fork. Add them to your bowl and mix until they're thoroughly incorporated.
* Put your potato chips in a closeable plastic bag. Seal it carefully ***(you don't want crumbs all over your counter)*** and place the bag on a flat surface. Get out your rolling pin and roll it over the bag, crushing the potato chips inside. Do this until the pieces resemble coarse grave. You can also crush them with your hands if you prefer.
* Measure out 2 cups of crushed potato chips and mix them into the dough in your bowl.
* Add one cup of flour and mix it in.
* Add the second cup of flour and mix thoroughly.
* Add the final half cup of flour and mix that in.
* Measure out a cup and a half of butterscotch chips unless you want to use the whole bag. Add the chips to your cookie dough. If you're using an electric mixer, mix them in at the LOW speed. You can also take the bowl out of the mixer and stir in the chips by hand.
* Let the dough sit on the counter while you prepare your cookie sheets.
* Spray your cookie sheets with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray, or line them with parchment paper, leaving little "ears" at the top and bottom. That way, when your cookies are baked, you can pull the paper, baked cookies and all, over onto a wire rack to cool.
* Drop the dough by rounded teaspoons onto your cookie sheets, no more than 12 cookies on each standard-size sheet.

**Hannah's 2nd Note: I use a 2-teaspoon cookie scoop at The Cookie Jar. It's faster than doing it with a spoon.**

* Bake your Butterscotch Crunch Cookies at 350 F for 10 to 12 minutes or until nicely browned. ***(Mine took 11 minutes.)***
* Let the cookies cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet and then remove them with a metal spatula. Transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Yield: Approximately 5 dozen wonderfully chewy, salty and crunchy cookies that are sure to please everyone who tastes them.

**Lisa's 2nd Note: These cookies travel well. If you want to send them to a friend, just stack them, roll them up in foil like coins, and cushion the cookie rolls between layers of styrofoam peanuts, or bubble wrap.**