Some of my favorite bakery-style cookie recipes have come from simply playing around in the kitchen, and that’s exactly how these spicy chocolate cookies came to be. I knew I wanted to create a chocolate cookie with a little kick, but I also really liked the idea of adding kettle cooked potato chips for a salty crunch. After plenty of testing, tweaking, and a little trial and error, I finally landed on a combination that became not only my mom’s favorite cookie, but my husband’s favorite too.

And since my mom goes by Nana, it seemed only right to finally give this cookie a name of its own.

Meet Nana’s Sweet Heat.

How Nana’s Spicy Chocolate Cookies Came to Be

When I’m working on a new cookie recipe, I usually start with an idea and see where it takes me.

With these spicy chocolate cookies, I knew from the beginning that I wanted chocolate and heat together. I didn’t want them to be overwhelmingly spicy, though. I wanted that first bite to taste like a rich chocolate cookie, followed by a little warmth that makes you wonder exactly what’s hiding in there.

Then I started thinking about adding something salty.

That’s when the kettle cooked potato chips came in.

I loved the idea of putting potato chips into a chocolate cookie, especially the thicker, crunchier kettle cooked kind. They would add saltiness and a little unexpected crunch to all that chocolate.

It took some experimenting to get everything just right, but eventually I had it.

A rich chocolate cookie filled with dark chocolate, cinnamon, a little cayenne or chili powder, and crushed kettle cooked potato chips.

And apparently I wasn’t the only one who liked them.

They became my mom’s favorite cookie.

They also became my husband’s favorite.

I’d say that’s a pretty successful kitchen experiment. 😂

What Makes These Spicy Chocolate Cookies So Good?

There are quite a few flavors happening in Nana’s Sweet Heat.

The cocoa powder gives the cookie dough a deep chocolate flavor, and then I add plenty of dark chocolate chips and chunks.

Next comes the heat.

I use cayenne or chili powder along with cinnamon. The cinnamon gives the chocolate a little warmth, while the cayenne or chili powder adds that unexpected kick.

But one of my favorite parts of these spicy chocolate cookies is the kettle cooked potato chips.

You get little salty, crunchy bites mixed throughout the soft chocolate cookie, and that salty flavor is so good with the dark chocolate.

Sweet.

Salty.

Chocolatey.

Crunchy.

And just a little spicy.

That’s Nana’s Sweet Heat.

How Spicy Are These Spicy Chocolate Cookies?

This is completely adjustable.

I use anywhere from 1 to 2 tablespoons of cayenne or chili powder, depending on how much heat I want in the batch.

If this is your first time making spicy chocolate cookies, I’d recommend starting with the smaller amount, especially if you aren’t sure how everyone will feel about heat in a dessert.

You aren’t trying to make your mouth feel like it’s on fire.

The chocolate should still be the star.

I like the heat to sneak up on you a little. You taste chocolate, cinnamon, and those salty kettle chips first, and then you notice that little bit of warmth afterward.

Of course, if your family loves spicy food, you can turn it up a little.

Nana’s Sweet Heat Spicy Chocolate Cookies

Print Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups packed brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup margarine, melted
5 large eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
4 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
1 to 2 tablespoons cayenne or chili powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
6 to 7 cups all-purpose flour, leveled (more if needed)
3 cups dark chocolate chips and chunks
2 cups crushed kettle cooked potato chips
Additional chocolate chips and kettle cooked potato chips for topping, optional

Instructions

In a very large mixing bowl, combine the melted butter, melted margarine, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla until everything is well combined.
Gradually add the baking soda, salt, cayenne or chili powder, cinnamon, cocoa powder, and flour. Begin with the smaller amount of flour and add more as needed until you have a thick cookie dough that holds its shape without being overly sticky.
Gently stir in the dark chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, and crushed kettle cooked potato chips.
For extra-large cookies, use a large 4-tablespoon cookie scoop and combine two scoops of dough to make approximately a 5-ounce cookie dough ball.
Place the dough balls on a baking sheet with plenty of room between them. Add a few extra chocolate chips or chunks to the tops, if desired.
Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for approximately 16 to 18 minutes. If you’re baking at an elevation above 4,000 feet or higher, try 325°F instead. Adjust the baking time as needed for your oven and cookie size.
After removing the cookies from the oven, press a few additional pieces of kettle cooked potato chips into the tops, if desired.
Let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for several minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

Yield: Approximately 2 dozen extra-large cookies or 6 dozen regular-sized cookies.

Why I Make These Spicy Chocolate Cookies Extra Large

If I’m going to make a cookie, I might as well make a really good one.

For Nana’s Sweet Heat, I usually make my cookies about 5 ounces each.

That larger size helps give them the texture I love. The outside gets slightly crisp while the inside stays thick, soft, and chewy.

You also get plenty of everything in each cookie. There are chocolate chunks, little pieces of kettle chips, and that sweet heat running throughout.

If you don’t want giant spicy chocolate cookies, you can absolutely make them smaller.

For approximately 2-ounce cookies, bake them for about 12 to 14 minutes instead.

Don’t Skip the Kettle Cooked Potato Chips

If you’ve never put potato chips into cookie dough, this might be the ingredient that makes you raise an eyebrow.

But don’t leave them out!

The kettle cooked potato chips are one of the things that make these spicy chocolate cookies different.

I specifically like kettle cooked chips because they’re thicker and crunchier than regular potato chips. They hold up better in the dough and add little salty bites throughout the cookie.

Chocolate and salt are already a wonderful combination. Add the warmth from the cinnamon and cayenne, and you end up with a cookie that doesn’t taste quite like anything else.

You can even press a few extra pieces of potato chips into the tops of the cookies after they come out of the oven. I love doing this because people can immediately see that there’s something a little different about them.

A Few Tips for Baking Nana’s Spicy Chocolate Cookies

I’ve worked on this recipe enough over the years to know that your oven and altitude can make a difference.

If you’re new to high-altitude baking, King Arthur Baking has a helpful guide explaining how altitude can affect cookies and other baked goods.

At lower elevations, I recommend starting at 350°F. I bake at just over 4,000 feet, where I’ve found that 325°F works well for my extra-large cookies.

For the extra-large cookies, begin checking them around 16 minutes.

You want the edges to look set while the centers are still soft. Remember that the cookies will continue to bake a little while they’re sitting on the hot baking sheet.

That’s how I get the slightly crisp outside and soft, chewy middle that I love.

And don’t be afraid to adjust the flour slightly. Depending on your ingredients and conditions in your kitchen, you may need a little more or a little less.

Ingredient Measurements by Weight

If you prefer weighing some of your ingredients, these are the measurements I use:

Brown sugar: 789 grams
Granulated sugar: 189 grams
Eggs: 253 grams
Unsweetened cocoa powder: 88 grams
All-purpose flour: 1,272 to 1,412 grams

I don’t usually weigh the remaining ingredients because they’re easy enough to measure.

Nana’s Sweet Heat Has Become a Family Favorite

I love that these spicy chocolate cookies started with me standing in my kitchen playing around with ingredients.

There wasn’t some grand plan behind them.

I knew I wanted chocolate.

I knew I wanted a little heat.

And for some reason, I couldn’t get the idea of throwing kettle cooked potato chips into the dough out of my head.

So I experimented.

Eventually, after plenty of testing and error, Nana’s Sweet Heat was born.

The fact that this experiment turned into both my mom’s favorite cookie and my husband’s favorite makes me love the recipe even more.

And now it finally has a name that feels just right.

Nana’s Sweet Heat.

A little sweet, a little salty, a little spicy, and a whole lot of chocolate.

I think Nana deserves a cookie like that.

Another Family Favorite

Nana’s Sweet Heat may have my mom’s name on it, but she’s not the only one who loves this cookie. It’s also one of my husband’s favorites. And if you’d like to meet the cookie that actually carries his name, try Todd’s Ultimate Rocky Road Cookies next. It’s another chocolate-loaded family favorite with its own story behind it.

Explore The Cookie Collection

Nana’s Sweet Heat is one of the cookies that makes The Cookie Collection so personal to me. You can browse all of my bakery-style cookie recipes for more giant cookies, stuffed cookies, seasonal favorites, creative flavor combinations, and the stories behind the cookies.

Every cookie with a name has a story, and this one belongs to Nana.