A cookie for those who love sweet-and-salty treats

Hey, guess what? March 14 is National Potato Chip Day.

I kid you not. Did you know there's a day for just about every food you can think of? How about this: National Bicarbonate of Soda Day, Dec. 30. (Which just happens to be my son's birthday. I'll let all of you mothers draw your own conclusions.)

My own birthday, July 21, is National Ice Cream Day, AND National Junk Food Day. From the sublime, to the ridiculous.

August 21 is National Spumoni Day. Who knew? Probably spumoni makers everywhere, that's who. And looking forward to next month, here's one you won't want to miss: National Cheeseball Day, April 17.

Are you a vegan? Celebrate the International Banana Festival on Sept. 21. And Eat Your Vegetables Day, June 17.

What does this tell us? There are some people out there with lots of time on their hands. There are government agencies charged with approving, say, National Penuche Fudge Day. There are Web sites devoted to detailing the daily, weekly, and monthly food days we should all note.

And it's fun to lighten up and laugh. In fact, my Web teammates are looking at me quizzically because I've been sitting here at the computer chuckling for the past 15 minutes.

Let me leave you with one more thought: March 14 is also National Pi Day.

Think about it... you'll figure it out.

And while you're cogitating on Pi, get busy whipping up a batch of these Potato Chip Cookies.

First, select your chips. Despite it being National Potato Chip Day, I didn't think that was enough of an occasion to completely abandon my diet.  So I went with the reduced-fat chips. I know, I know, cookies will add the calories anyway; but it doesn't hurt to make small improvements along the way.

Measure out a scant 3 ounces potato chips, which is about 4 cups.

Put them in a bag...

...and very gently break them into smaller pieces. By no means are you trying to pulverize the chips; just break them up a bit.

Next, the cookie dough. This recipe calls for shortening, which means I reach for my adjustable measuring cup. Slide the inner piece to the desired measurement, pack in the shortening...

...and push it into the measuring bowl. Easy, accurate measuring, with very little cleanup.

Add brown and white sugar, salt, baking powder, and vanilla.

Beat till smooth, and add 1 large egg.

Beat till smooth again.

In go the oats and flour.

Beat till smooth, then add the potato chips.

As you gently stir the chips in, they'll break some more; that's why you didn't want to break them up too much to begin with.

Use an overfilled teaspoon cookie scoop (or use a spoon) to deposit chestnut-sized balls of dough onto a parchment-lined or lightly greased baking sheet.

It's easy with the scoop. Truly, cookie scoops are the cookie baker's best friend in the kitchen.

Leave about 1 1/2” between the cookies.

If you like the sweet/salt combo, sprinkle the tiniest little bit of salt atop each one.

Here they are, ready to go into the oven.

And here they are after 12 minutes of baking. See the piece of potato chip?

Happy National Potato Chip Day!

Read, rate, and review (please) our recipe for Potato Chip Cookies.