Preheat your oven to 350°F and place a rack in the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add sugar and butter. Cream on medium speed until light and fluffy (3 – 4 minutes). Add vanilla and fine grain sea salt, mixing until incorporated. Add pecans, 1/2 cup finely crushed potato chips and flour, mixing until just combined. Start your mixer on low so the flour doesn’t fly everywhere, then increase speed to medium. Do not overmix. The dough will seem crumbly at first. Keep mixing a bit more until the dough starts clumping together (this is not a smooth dough).
Place some white sugar on a small plate. Scoop out 1 tablespoon of dough and roll it between your hands to form a ball. Roll the ball in the sugar until evenly coated then place on the prepared baking sheet. Slightly flatten the ball with the bottom of a drinking glass. Repeat with remaining dough, placing each cookie 1 inch apart from the others.
To make the salted crumble variety, sprinkle each cookie with crushed potato chips and flaky sea salt then bake until lightly golden around the edges (about 15 minutes). Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
To make the chocolate dipped variety, bake the cookies first, let cool then dip in warm, melted chocolate. Return the cookies to the wire rack and let rest until chocolate has dried.