Chocolate Covered Potato Chips

Let me apologize for not posting last week. I was on vacation in Portland OR, and regretfully did not take the time to post this. I would like to thank everyone for their encouragement and support. My friend told me last night that she has been checking this blog every day anxiously awaiting a new post. Without further ado, here goes...

Chocolate has never been one of my favorites, and many people have been surprised by this. Perhaps it is the fact that I grew up on cheap waxy chocolates. Perhaps it is the fact that my Grams occasionally spoiled me by sharing one of her dark chocolates filled with cream or nuts and left me never wanting anything but those. Either way, much to my husband's dismay, chocolate has never been something I have eaten or cooked with very often.

About 2 months ago we were going to have people over and bought the makings for a good group dessert, chocolate fondue. However, we never got around to it. Needless to say, the chocolate has been getting dusty on my baking shelf since. But then, last weekend, my parents called asking if we wanted to come over and watch the Seven Year Itch. You know, that's the movie where Marilyn Monroe has an almost affair with her downstairs neighbor and, in the 2nd most famous scene of the movie, shares champagne and potato chips with him. My parents said, that because of that scene, we were going to have champagne and potato chips during the movie. When I mentioned to my boss what I would be doing over the weekend, he asked me if I had ever tried chocolate covered potato chips and that got me thinking. I bought a bag of kettle chips, dusted off the chocolate and talked my husband into helping me.

First, we chopped the chocolate (baking chocolate - about 1 lb.) into little slivers:


Then, we melted the chocolate in a make-shift double boiler; we had a metal bowl that sat in one of our pots fairly well. We filled the lower pot with about an inch of water and put it on a simmer. Once the chocolate melted all the way through, it wais time to dip the chips in it. Note: Be sure that the bowl sits snugly in the pot, so no steam escapes. My husband has had chocolate seize up on him (get hard and not melt down again) from water getting into it. Also, be sure to stir constantly so the chocolate heats evenly.

After the chocolate is melted, dip the chips, one at a time, holding the end of each with either your fingers or tongs, into the chocolate. Let the excess drip off for a few seconds (or scrape off excess with spatula if necessary - it was for us) and then place each chip onto wax paper which has been set onto a baking sheet. When you have filled the wax paper, place the baking sheet into the fridge for 10-15 minutes so the chocolate can set. Note: I failed to put the wax paper onto the baking sheet first and had a heck of a time getting it onto one after. And, I discovered it needed to go into the fridge to set because, as I was packing them up to go, they stuck to each other and were still slightly gooey.

I used dark chocolate for this recipe, since I still don't like milk chocolate, and think it turned out great. I used one regular sized bag of Roundy's Kettle Chips and found they held up well and allowed for more potato chip taste than I would have thought. We had a little chocolate left over so we got to make "haystacks" out of the crumbs and managed to also cover some pretzels we had in the cupboard. Although the dipping of each thing is a bit time consuming and tedious, these really are easy to make; find someone to help you like I did and it will go a lot quicker.

My parents seemed to enjoy their plain potato chips a bit more for the movie occasion, but these did go over well wtih them and others I shared with. We just finished our stash of chocolate covered goodies we made here, and I think we will be making them again, maybe instead of the attempted fondue next time!