are cheese puffs considered to be chips?

Dear Bevi, 

I guess that it depends, whom you'd ask. However, a "chip" is defined as : 
"A thin, usually fried slice of food, especially a potato chip. Often
used in the plural." (SOURCE: The American HeritageŽ Dictionary of the
English Language, Fourth Edition,
<http://www.answers.com/topic/chip?method=6>).

Now cheese puffs: 
- Are usually not fried, but baked (see attached recipes bellow)
- Do not contain potato elements, or for that matter, any other vegetable

So, they are only "small, dried, pieces of food". But that is not
necessarily the definition of a chip, unless one includes all snacks
that are in fact "small dried pieces of food" as chips. If one
considers all of those as "chips", than the answer is positive. But if
you'd ask a purist, they are certainly not.

Recipes (for homemade, not industrial, cheese puffs): 

French Cheese Puffs (Gougeres)
<http://www.globalgourmet.com/destinations/france/puffs.html> 

Herb Cheese Puffs - from eHow.com
<http://www.ehow.com/how_10638_make-herb-cheese.html> 

I hope this answers your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarification on this answer before you rate it.

Just an aside to PoliticalGuru's response. In the context of salty
snacks, I am going to assume that Bevi is actually referring to what
many vendors call "cheese curls." (My personal favorite brand:
http://www.taquitos.net/snacks.php?snack_code=124)

Frito Lay refers to them as "cheese puffs" as well, and since they are
kings of the snack world, I defer to them.

I say this to take exception with PoliticalGuru's statement that
cheese puffs:  "Do not contain potato elements, or for that matter,
any other vegetable" To that I say, "Bah!"

These products almost always contain corn in the form of corn meal
(usually the main ingredient.)  So unless corn is no longer being
considered a vegetable, "cheese puff / cheese curls" most certainly
contain vegetable matter.  (Not that anyone should consider them
health food or anything.)

The homemade cheese puffs for which PoliticalGuru supplied recipes,
are the "traditional" hors d'oeuvres.  I personally don't consider
them the same thing, even though the store bought snacks were probably
loosely based on the hors d'oeuvres.

My check for $.02 is in the mail.

If it is not flat, it is not a chip.