Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have you noticed bacon showing up in odd places lately? I mean, for years and years, bacon showed up beside some eggs in a breakfast, sometimes in a waffle or a pancake, and occasionally added to some kind of green bean dish. But that's about it in my recollection.

Now, however, it seems to be showing up everywhere. Check out the 3rd photo down at Voodoo Donuts. It's a huge maple bar covered with freshly cooked bacon slices! And people rave about it.

Or how about a fried breakfast served in a "dish" made out of cooked bacon? Click here.

Or maybe, bacon cupcakes, or chocolate covered bacon, bacon baklava, bacon pie, bacon candy or bacon fried bananas? See them and more here.

Anyway, being the cutting-edge kind of guy I am, I decided to jump on the bandwagon when I came across a recipe for bacon chocolate chip cookies. Yeah, bacon chocolate chip cookies.

And guess what? They were strangely addictive. That's all I can say. I took two dozen to work and they received rave reviews, after a moment or two of hesitation of course. So do give them a try if you want to be up on the cutting edge of bacon cooking-dom. (I made that up, can ya tell?)

Adapted from the peterandrewryan website.


Ingredients and Method:

10 slices thick cut smoked bacon
3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs, room temperature
12 oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips (I prefer Ghiradelli)
2 1/3 cups flour

Place bacon in an ovenproof pan. I use cast iron, and if you're using a different type pan to bake the bacon, you might want to use some parchment paper to ease on cleanup.

Sprinkle 3 tablespoons brown sugar over bacon and place into 350 degree oven. Turn occasionally to spread the molten brown sugar over the cooking bacon. Let get dark brown and crisp. Remove from oven and place/drain on waxed paper. The bacon will be sticky, so be careful, don't just drain on paper towels, or you'll be starting over, believe me, unless you want paper towels in your cookies. It's strange enough we have bacon, huh?

Meanwhile, cream butter and sugars in a mixing bowl until well combined.

Add salt, baking soda, and vanilla and beat well.

Mix in eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated.

Add flour and mix well.

Add chocolate chips, and crushed and crumbled bacon into mixture. Mix briefly until just blended.

Chill dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Now, this dough will spread during baking. (One reason we're chilling it ahead of time) So place cookies with sufficient space on cookie sheet.

Drop by tablespoonfulls onto baking sheet. To retard the spreading of the cookies further, use parchment paper.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 12 - 15 minutes. I always bake for 15 minutes because I like them browned and crisp, but go for 12 if you like them softer.

Remove from oven, let sit for 10 minutes, and remove to cooling rack.

Convince your friends they'll love them if they try them, and then revel in their adulation....lol

These really are good. But hard to explain why.

Enjoy!