Two Faced Chef

What do you get when you cross a pig with a cactus?

A Porkupine!

Ok, we’ll pretend that didn’t happen.  I’ve been hearing a lot about savory and sweet cookies, and the euphoria from said cookies.  I hold a firm belief that bacon makes everything taste better, so bacon found it’s way into my first savory and sweet cookie creation.  These are fantastic warm, hold well in the fridge, and look beautiful.  However, the cookies should be kept cold, since they do have meat in them!!!  I candied the bacon, following suit with David Lebovitz (http://www.davidlebovitz.com), and mixed it into a pretty traditional cookie recipe that is a mix of Nestle’s Tollhouse and my own happy place.

I need these ice cubes.  Last night, I was telling Rico that after I graduated college, I felt like I stopped being cool.  These ice cubes might finally make me cool again.  Maybe they will keep me from watching Lifetime movies on Sunday afternoons instead of doing something productive.  Don’t you want a part in that?  If you all loved me, you would buy me this mold.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 sticks of butter (1 cup)
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/4 tsps vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 12 ounces Nestle’s semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 package (at least 11 slices) thick cut bacon, raw
• additional 1/8th cup brown sugar, approximate

Here are my rounded tablespoons.  Now did you hear me, tablespoons? Not teaspoons!  My father doesn’t know the difference between these two!   When I was younger and was ill, he gave me 4 tablespoons of Mylanta instead of 4 teaspoons.  That was fun. 

First we cook the bacon.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lay the bacon on a pan with parchment or a Silpat, and sprinkle with brown sugar.  Bake for about 12 minutes, flip, then bake 12 minutes more (make sure it’s nice and cooked and brown).  Let the bacon cool on a rack or on paper towels.  Break up into pieces, and press in between more paper towels to remove all the excess grease.

Raise oven to 375 degrees.  Beat together the butter, sugars, and vanilla.  Once lightened and well combined, mix in the two eggs.  Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and combine well. Stir in the bag of chocolate chips and the crumbled bacon.  Scoop 1 tablespoon sized balls onto a Silpat-lined or greased cookie sheet.  I found the cookies took about 10 minutes to bake, but I would check after 9 to see if they are done.  Let cool, or enjoy while they are warm and fuzzy.

These were really, really good.  I think next time I will mix some bacon fat into the dough for a more dispersed bacon flavor.  Also, it’s amazing how many people in my office building don’t eat bacon.  Not for religious reasons, but because they just don’t like it.  I have decided not to be friends with these people.