After doing a quick pantry raid you could be on the verge of making some incredibly tasty cookies. With just five ingredients, these cookies are the perfect blend of salty and sweet – meaning they’re appealing to just about everyone – and they have one ingredient that is a total surprise to people. Can you guess what it is that makes these kooky cookies so kooky? It’s corn chips!

That’s right, forget about using rolled oats or cereal here, folks, it’s all about the chips. Salty, crunchy, thick corn chips that make the best pairing with the caramelized peanut butter mixture. Everything clumps together deliciously and you’ve got yourself a salty, sweet, brittle-like cookie that will have you begging for more.

We told friends we would bring something special over to their house last week when they had us over and they figured we were talking about a fudgy batch of brownies or a decadent batch of chocolate cookies – not this time. It was great to see how surprised they were when we unveiled these kooky confections, and even better when they took a bite and realized they were eating chips! If you’ve got friends who always choose salty snacks over sweet treats, try these out on ‘em and see if they don’t change their mind!

Kooky Cookies

2 dozen

15 minutes

Ingredients
  • 1 (approx. 10 oz.) bag corn chips
  • 1 cup light corn syrup
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, optional
  • 1 tablespoons unsalted butter, optional
Preparation
  1. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly grease paper with non-stick spray.
  2. Spread corn chips out on parchment paper in an even layer.
  3. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine corn syrup and sugar and, while stirring frequently, bring to a boil.
  4. Remove mixture from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla extract, if using, then pour creamy mixture over corn chips until evenly coated.
  5. Let cool, then break into cookies, or scoop into cookies and set on a second, lined baking sheet to set.
  6. Optional: melt chocolate chips and butter together in a microwaveable bowl, whisking until smooth, then pour over cookies, if desired.

Recipe adapted from Skip To My Lou