There is no doubt that these loaded bacon, Cheddar, and ranch potatoes are the best you’ve ever made. This recipe is easy to make and feeds a large number of people. I brought it to a potluck, and the pan was practically empty when I got home! When it was all gone, people were upset since they had gone back for seconds and thirds. You simply can’t stop eating these potatoes because they are so delicious! They pair nicely with beef, pig, or chicken. For a family of 4, cut the recipe in half.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 3 hrs |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 35 mins |
| Servings: | 48 |
| Yield: | 4 dozen |
Ingredients
- 4 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- 2 cups white sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Melt the chocolate and shortening in a saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and mix in sugar and vanilla. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in the chocolate mixture and nuts. Chill dough in the refrigerator 3 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
- Place confectioners’ sugar in a bowl. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Roll dough balls in confectioners’ sugar to coat. Arrange 3 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets.
- Bake 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. The cookies will look soft when removed from the oven. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 104 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 15 g |
| Cholesterol | 16 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 33 mg |
| Sugars | 10 g |
| Fat | 5 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I like the fact that I can leave it refrigerated and bake 2-3 cookies at a time. 12 minutes in the oven is perfect. Took away 1 star because the chocolate flavor is a bit bland. I like others’ idea to add some chocolate chips.
When I pick up my grand daughter and her friend after school so I can drive them to gymnastics, I always have cookies for them. They fell in love with these.
I went strictly by the recipe and they turned out perfect. Not a great baker so I was so happy with the results. Taste was awesome and I will make them again. I have cookie baking day at my Daughter’s with her and the Granddaughter’s and little Great Granddaughter’s. Can’t wait to make these cookies with them. Thank you!
I made his recipie 3 Times and it was flat and gross
These are awesome and I would definitely recommend this recipe! I did not use the nuts and it worked perfectly! If you like brownies than you will definitely like these!
I had to hide them, the boys kept eating them. I might try adding cherries.
These came out great! Using a mini-baller with a squeeze handle that ‘ejects’ the dough into the powder sugar really helped minimize the sticky hands. Of course, powder sugar gets everywhere!
Substituted peppermint extract for the vanilla. Came out awseome!
This recipe is somethin else. My sister loves chocolate so I decided to try this for her and it was a homerun!!!They are very fluffy and tender, pretty much like chocolate cake but even better! Fantastic!! Thanky for sharing your recipe!!
These are delicious, attractive, chewy cookies that are a hit with everyone in my family and office. I used a 1″ serving scoop to make it easier to create uniform balls of dough. Well chilled dough is key. I used a silpat baking mat and found that to be very helpful. We love these cookies!
Keeper enough said! It is just a very, very good recipe. I did keep the dough over night in the fridge and finished them in a little over an hour! I used semi-sweet chocolate that was the only one I had at hand at the moment and reduced the 2 cups of sugar to 1 1/2 cups and still was not too sweet. Next time if using semi-sweet chocolate I think I can still just use 1 cup of sugar and it will be still perfect as the little powdered sugar will compensate!
holy on a cracker these cookies are delicious! I followed the recipe exactly and they turned out perfectly. Next time I will leave them in for a little less time(oven runs hot) Will definitely be making these again and again! Tip- I noticed some reviewers saying they would leave the cookies on the baking sheet to cool. When my husband was helping me take them off the sheet we found the longer they stayed on the stickier they got (that was after heavily greasing them with cooking spray)so I would recommend getting them off the moment they come out the oven then letting them cool on a cooling rack.
This was delicious!!! I recommend rolling the dough in the powdered sugar twice, or else it isn’t enough. 🙂
Loved it since I was a kid!!
This recipe was delicious! I read the reviews and substituted the shortening for butter and baked them for 7 minutes instead of 10, but they came out a bit too chewy – but they were completely edible that way~! Next time I’ll bake them for 10 minutes. Really a GREAT cookie. I will be making them again this week!!!
Made some like these years ago but had lost the recipe. My mom used to love them. This is it! I use half butter half margarine in place of the shortening, as I never seem to have shortening on hand, and they came out great. I also used cocoa and the addition of more margarine as I didn’t have enough unsweetened chocolate. Good to know I can substitute. I made the first batch using only a rounded teaspoon, and then got lazy and made them a little bigger. I far prefer the smaller ones so next time I’ll be more patient. Thanks for posting this!
I love these cookies, but I have modified the recipe slightly. 1/4 tsp salt 4 oz unsweetened chocolate 1 tsp vanilla 6-8 oz semi-sweet ghirardelli chocolate chips Remove nuts Melt unsweetened chocolate and shortening in Microwave. Beat in sugar. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Mix in vanilla. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Pour in the egg mixture until smooth. Fold chocolate chips into dough. Chill dough in the refrigerator 3 hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lay parchment paper on cookie sheets. Place confectioners’ sugar in a bowl. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Roll 1 inch dough balls in confectioners’ sugar to coat. Arrange 3 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Pick up parchment paper and transfer cookies from cookie sheet to wire rack.
I’m not sure what I did wrong but these did not turn out the way I thought they should. Although they puffed up in the oven, they turned flat as soon as I took them out. I was expecting a more soft and chewy type cookie. I put the dough in the fridge over night. I had to adjust the time for each batch since they were either too hard (and flat) or too soft (and flat) to put on the wire racks. Any tips would be appreciated.
Growing up we called these Chocolate Crinkles. I had an Aunt that made them for family gatherings. I am so happy I found this recipe. These are absolutely fabulous and taste just like I remember. Some of the reviews said that these were dry, they won’t be if you do not overcook them. Do not overcook these cookies, they should be lightly crisp around the edges and soft and gooey inside. I timed them at exactly 7 minutes in my convection oven, then let them set for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet before removing. I did not change a thing in the recipe!!!!
Made these today for my daughter’s bake sale at school..sure they’ll love them! The one thing I did discover is that in between baking I had to return the dough into the fridge. It was sticky and hard to roll them, but otherwise a good recipe! of course I had to taste test them…mmmmmmm! lol!
These were good although mine were kind of hard. I might have overbaked them. It’s easy to do because of the color.