Homemade Baked Potato Chips. Oh, yes.

I've posted before about my penchant for learning to make things you can easily buy for very little money, that are invariably time consuming and messy once you get going on them. This, my friends, is one of those things. I give you: baked potato chips and greek yogurt onion dip.

To do this, you will need a mandolin. I'm sorry, but there is no way around it- this is what separates the men from the boys, or the ladies from the girls, or the soggy thick potato slices from these actual chip-like things.

WITHOUT CHOPPING YOUR FINGER OFF, slice the potatoes into very thin pieces. (does anyone watch Master Chef? a few weeks ago someone seriously sliced themselves on a mandolin, which scared me to death). Ideally, and unlike most of mine, the slices will be the entire cross section of the potato, but mine got kind of crooked and I ended up with halves. Then, put the slices in a bowl of ice water and let them sit. A surprising amount of starch will accumulate in the bottom of the bowl.

Now, DRY OFF THE POTATO SLICES, and put them on a cookie tray that you have sprayed with cooking spray or an oil mister. Salt. Bake at 400, watching extremely carefully because they go from perfect to burnt in a heart beat.

Take them off and cool on paper towels. The dip was very challenging. I took a cup of greek yogurt and a packet of onion dip mix from the store, mixed them, and voila!

The really amazing thing here is how crispy these were, they really were like actual chips- crunchy, salty, and satisfying. I think the success is due to a few key things: 1. the mandolin, 2. the ice batch, 3. drying them off.

Now, of course comes the big question... was it worth it? Well, it was fun, and it was kind of a novelty, and the warm out of the oven chips were killer. And, I guess, these beat BakedLays by a long shot. But, it was a lot of work, so maybe it's a special occasion kind of thing.

(by the way, no, this is not a hot weather dinner, I found this is my draft of posts that I was too lazy to finish. No one in their right mind should run a 400 degree oven until at least September).