Maple Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had to do it. I just had to.

Has anyone ever tried that bacon chocolate bar that's being sold? I admit that I did. It was...different. At the time, I wasn't really sure how I felt about it. It was a chocolate bar, but it tasted like bacon. It was one of the oddest things I had ever tried. I couldn't actually finish it, which is somewhat unlike me-there was just almost too much bacon taste in the bar.

I search for different recipes, as I am oft to do when I am looking for inspiration. Some time ago I found this recipe for Maple Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies, and I just decided I had to try the bacon-chocolate route again. It was such a weird recipe that had so much potential. I mean, I've never put meat in a cookie before. I love bacon, I love cookies. I love maple syrup. I needed to try this recipe.


This morning, while I was making my breakfast, I decided to put these cookies together. I made the bacon, crumbled it, put it in the cookie batter (which, up until that point was pretty basic with the exception of adding maple syrup, which I had never done in a chocolate chip cookie either) and found the dough to be a little bit tough to handle, so instead of mixing it with a spoon (which I did) or with a hand mixer (which I tried after that), I just gave up and used my hands to get the dough to stick together. It finally worked after awhile, and I scooped the cookies with my hands instead of a spoon because, hell, my hands were already a mess anyway.




I changed things just slightly-the original recipe called for white and bittersweet chocolate chips and I decided to use one bag of semisweet chunks because that's a)what I had and b)I don't care much for white chocolate chips. This made for one very chocolate-y looking cookie.

It was the oddest scent in my house this morning-the smell of bacon and cookie coming from the same oven. I was so thrown off I couldn't figure out what to do with it, so I just waited for them to come out of the oven, but for some reason couldn't justify eating it with breakfast, so I had it with my lunch instead.

Sidenote: I was under the impression that these cookies would flatten out much more than they did. I had read that the bacon fat that's left from the bacon would do that. I was quite surprised when I pulled them out of the oven and they were still pretty chunky cookies.



Again, much like the bacon chocolate bar, this is one completely weird cookie. I get a lot of chocolate and then an ever so subtle hint of salty bacon. So. Odd. That's the best way I can describe it. Not awesome, not bad, but so very bizarre. Though it's possible I may have a second one to try and contrast and compare. Feel free to try this recipe for yourself to weigh in, or come try one of mine. I promise you you'll likely eat the whole cookie (since the chocolate really stands out, and I think the maple syrup helps to even out the sweet-to-salty ratio too) but you may be as perplexed as I am!

Maple Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe by Tod Dimmick, obtained from The Phantom Gourmet)

1/2 stick (1/4 c.) butter, melted
1 c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. maple syrup (again, use the real kind!)
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. + 2 Tbsp flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
5 strips bacon, cooked until crisp, drained, and chopped into very small bits (I microwaved mine for about 3 minutes, then kept going at 1 minute increments until it was crispy enough. Depending on what kind you use you may either need to cook it longer or shorter-I used a center cut)
1/2 c. white chocolate chips
1/3 c. bittersweet chocolate chips
(I omitted this part and just added 1 bag-12 oz.- of semisweet chocolate chunks. Do whatever you feel is right for you)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a mixing bowl, mix the butter, sugar, and syrup very well. Then beat in the egg and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt, and then stir this in to the butter/egg mixture until just blended. Stir in the bacon and chocolate chips.

Scoop up batter by the spoonful or with your hands (maybe about almost twice the size of a walnut) and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 15 minutes on the middle rack of the oven, or until just crisp on the edges but still soft in the middle (I had to bake mine about 20 minutes total. Just check to make sure they're golden on top and not burned on the bottom!). Remove from the oven to cool for a few minutes, then let cool fully on a baking rack.
This made me almost 2 full dozen small cookies. Enjoy!