Sweet and Savory: Odd Food Combinations
Scroll down to see a recipe for Potato Chip Cookies.
We don't raise an eyebrow at carrot cake or peanut butter cookies. No one is alarmed by pumpkin pie. But is the world ready for potato-chip cookies?
Finding savory or other unusual ingredients in sweet baked goods was not uncommon 100 years ago, when frugal housewives used every leftover bit of food. Along the way, they learned some things.
Mashed potatoes and sauerkraut make excellent cake-moisteners. Mayonnaise is also good for baking, since it's mostly eggs and oil.
Retro foods are trendy and some recipes are making a comeback, which helps explain why Scharffen Berger — one of the companies that gave dark chocolate the same status as fine wine — has a cocoa-based sauerkraut cake on its Web site.
Weekend Edition Sunday commentator Bonny Wolf shares some of her favorite combinations of ingredients.
Mom Roblin's Potato Chip Cookies
Makes 48 cookies
2 sticks of butter, softened (or 1 butter and 1 margarine)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup finely crushed potato chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream shortening with sugar. Add flour and mix until smooth. Mix in potato chips and vanilla.
Drop by teaspoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, until light brown around the edges and just turning brown in the center. Watch carefully and do not overbake.
Cool on a rack, then sprinkle with sugar.
Store in air-tight container.
Nancy Roblin of Frederick, Md., got this recipe from her mother-in-law, who made them often.
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