Like pig candy only better!! While making these bacon cookies I was a wee bit skeptical of my own decision making skills and it must have shown. When I asked Tall Dark and Handsome how much bacon I should add to the cookies he said, “What does the recipe call for?” I said “What recipe?” His response? “Uh-oh.”
Lucky for me these babies were a huge hit and his “Uh-oh” turned into and “Oh yeah!” These cookies are decadent. The flavor bomb explodes with warm brown sugar, rich chocolate chips, salty bacon and an underlying smokiness. The smoky flavor and the melt in your mouth quality can both be attributed to the bacon fat that was used instead of butter.
Yes, 1 cup of bacon fat was used in these cookies. If you (like me) can never quite put your finger on where the butter flavor goes to in a baked good, there is no wondering here. The flavor of bacon fat shines through all the chocolate and is not diminished by the other ingredients.
Some of you might wonder where a girl could get all that bacon fat. Lucky for me I am well stocked with pork fat because we receive generous chunks of fat back when we pick up our pig. The hog is butchered and packaged into happy paper wrapped bundles containing hams, chops, sausages and fat.
Remember Fat = Flavor.
Every time I cook bacon or render fat back any excess grease gets poured into the flavor saver. The flavor saver is a mason jar in the bottom of the fridge kept just for pouring melted fat into. I occasionally scoop from the flavor saver when I am cooking things like collard greens and corn bread.
Even I do not eat that much bacon fat and the flavor stock pile was getting a bit out of hand. With the new pig coming in I had to clean out the old grease to make room for fresh fat. *It is important to use reserved pork grease timely as it will go rancid if stored for too long. Freeze grease for long term storage*
Since I have a hard time actually throwing away food or food by products I needed a way to use lots of flavor fast! I remember one of my friends who loves my pork fat fried rice. She once told me about a batch chocolate chip cookies she made with bacon fat because she was out of butter. She said they were good but didn’t really taste like bacon.
I thought I would try making them myself but to be sure that the cookies tasted of bacon I cooked up almost a pound of thick sliced bacon from our new pig. The results are out of this world good.
To make these cookies I use a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe and made a few minor adjustments.
Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 2.5c flour
- 1ts baking soda
- 1.75ts salt
- 1c bacon fat, room temp or softened
- 3/4c white sugar
- 3/4c brown sugar
- 1/2t vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1c chopped cooked bacon
- 1c chocolate chips
- 1c chopped pecans (optional)
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
In a small bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl cream together the bacon fat and sugars. Add the eggs one at a time blending thoroughly after each egg, Mix in the vanilla, then add the flour by parts. Stir in the chocolate chips and bacon pieces.
Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 11 minutes or until just golden brown.
Allow to cool for a few minutes on the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Serve with a tall glass of milk or a pint of stout
Nancy Warner 