The 2-Ingredient Chocolates That Pack A Sweet Yet Salty Bite

Sometimes, you just crave something simple, tasty, and uncomplicated. It's even better if that something involves what are arguably the best two of the five primary tastes known to mankind. Between sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami, all five have their moments and merits — but the first two, sweet and salty, are the favorites for many people, especially when consumed together. As it turns out, there's a scientific reason for that tied to extra taste receptors on the tongue that only activate when the two tastes are present together. 

Regardless of why our tastebuds love the sweet and salty combination, there's no denying that it exists. That's why this two-ingredient treat is ideal for indulging that craving. It's basically a cluster-style piece of chocolate with a surprising crunchy ingredient mixed in: potato chips. You can make these chocolate treats using basic milk chocolate chips and an equal amount of salted wavy potato chips, which are easy to crumble while still retaining the defining crunchy texture.

Making these two-ingredient wonders takes only about 15 hands-on minutes and another 15 hands-off minutes in the refrigerator. After mashing the potato chips into crumbles, melt the milk chocolate chips on the stovetop. Then, stir the crumbled chips into the melted chocolate and scoop a tablespoon of the mixture into the buttered or lined cups of a muffin pan. Let them cool and set in the refrigerator. 

Now that you get the super-simple gist of making these sweet-yet-salty chocolate bites, feel free to customize them per your own inclinations. When sticking to the two-ingredient simplicity, consider the types of chocolate at your disposal. A stroll down the baking aisle of almost any supermarket puts you within arm's reach of an array of meltable cooking chocolates.

In addition to milk chocolate chips, you'll likely find semi-sweet, white, bittersweet, and dark chocolates, as well as butterscotch, mint, and other styles of baking chips, bars, and discs. Any of these can become your cluster-making base as long as they're meltable and taste good with mashed-up potato chips. If you'd like to expand the ingredient list to three, take a peek at other baking mix-ins, such as nuts, dried fruits, and miniature or crumbled versions of popular candies.

Then, there are the potato chips themselves. Because of their stout, ruffled ridges, wavy chips are good for structure — but other styles work as well, including sturdy, crispy kettle chips. Just make sure they're plain instead of flavored, which could clash with the chocolate. If you're feeling adventurous, expand your chip repertoire to include corn or tortilla chips, but straying too far from the original idea may lead to disappointment.