Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

These soft cookies are a perfect mix of sweet and salty.

I feel confident that since I started our week off with a salad recipe, a cookie recipe is a safe follow.  We’ll make the downhill slide to fried food from here.  Kidding.  I think.

I owed one of my co-workers for helping me out with something at work, and promised to make her a batch of sweet treats with coffee in them, knowing that that was one of her weaknesses.  And then I mentioned Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Our e-mail exchange went something exactly like this:

Me:  I’ll make a batch of Chocolate Coffee Bars and then the Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies for you to try.

Her:  I’m a little confused by what you mean by the word “try,” because unless the bacon is on top of a burger, it’s not going into my mouth.

When I stopped in yesterday, armed with a platter of assorted goodies, it took more than just a little convincing to get her to try the cookies with the bacon in them.  I went with the theory that it is just like a chocolate covered pretzel.  You know, the salty/sweet combination.  “I don’t like chocolate covered pretzels,” she said.  “I don’t either,” I offered.  She laughed.  “Then why are we having cookies with bacon in them?”  Another co-worker was braver and tried one.  It might have had something to do with the fact that I didn’t tell her what the secret ingredient was.  She said they were fine, and that paved the way.  Co-Worker #1 did try them, and even finished a whole cookie.  She survived, although I can’t be certain she went back for a second one.

The Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies were on the platter I brought into Madeline‘s school on Monday as well, one of four different items and the first thing to go.  Nice job, guys!

Cookies with bacon in them is not such a new thing, although it’s been making the round of some food blogs a bit more frequently lately.  When I spied them on Cathy’s blog last week, I made a mental note to try them out over the weekend.  It is strictly a mind-over-matter thing.  Once you forget about the fact that there’s bacon in the cookie, all is fine, I promise.  There is just a hint of salt in the cookie, but only if you happen to get a piece of bacon in your bite.  If I made them again, I might up the bacon quotient just a tad because there were way more bites without bacon than with bacon, and if you’re going to make a cookie with bacon in it, well, you need more.

That being said, if you owe someone a fresh-baked favor, are feeling just a bit adventurous or even just because, give these a whirl.  Nice sturdy cookie, tasty, intriguing and another thing to cross off the bucket list ‘o baking.

Hungry for more bacon recipes?

• Sarah’s Cucina Bella has a Spicy Pastrami, Bacon and Swiss Wrap that is perfect for all those upcoming Spring picnics you’ll be planning with the Great Thaw of 2010.
• Cookies with Bacon wasn’t enough?  How about David’s Candied Bacon Ice Cream?
• Homemade Bacon Vodka?  I kid you not.  Brownie Points has all the deets for your own homemade batch of bacony magic.
• I think the Homesick Texan’s jarred goodness of Bacon Jam just might be the next stop on our Weird Bacon train ride.  When someone describes it as “the love child of pulled pork and pate,” how can we not be sucked in?
• And lastly, Elise over at Simply Recipes just might do me in with her Grilled Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Hot Dogs.

A year ago today … an unexpected hit, even with lots of dirty pots and pans.
Two years ago today … once-a-week cooking with The Neighbor Wife.
Five years ago today … another favorite salad.

March 9, 2010
Project 365, Photo #60

I took an Irish-themed cooking class tonight, and the picture above was one of the things on the menu, Irish Whiskey-Soaked Raisin Galette with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.  The other items on the menu included Irish Cheddar and Ale Pub Spread, O’Brien’s Certified Angus Beef & Ale Stew with Roasted Green Vegetables and Dublin-Style Potato “Champ.”  I’ll be sharing the Pub Spread recipe here next week … if I can wait that long.

Candied Bacon-Chocolate Chunk Cookies
adapted from The Great Book of Chocolate

Ingredients
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks (chips are fine)
1 cup Candied Bacon Bits (recipe follows)

Directions
Preheat oven to 325F. Line three baking sheets with a Silpat liner or parchment paper.  Beat the sugars and butter together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda.  Whisk together the flour and salt, then sift them into the batter.  Stir in the chocolate chunks and bacon bits.  Using a small cookie scoop or a teaspoon, scoop the cookie dough into small balls, about 1-inch in diameter, and place them 2 inches apart on each of the baking sheets.  Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Rotate sheets halfway through baking for even browning. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.  The cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for 3-4 days, if they last that long!  Makes about 3 dozen 2-inch cookies.

Candied Bacon Bits
adapted from David Lebovitz

8 strips bacon
1/2 cup light brown sugar (I used less)

Preheat oven to 400F.  Lay the strips of bacon on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or aluminum foil, shiny side down.  Sprinkle half of the brown sugar evenly over each strip of bacon.  Bake for about 15 minutes. Midway during baking, flip the bacon strips over and drag them through the dark, syrupy liquid that’s collected on the baking sheet.  Add the rest of the brown sugar and continue to bake until a deep mahogany color. Remove from oven and cool the strips on a wire rack.  Once crisp and cooled, chop into little pieces, about the size of grains of rice (I left mine a bit bigger so you could better discern what it was).  Candied bacon bits can be stored in an airtight container and chilled for a day or so, or stored in the freezer a few weeks ahead.