I believe I mentioned I would be making these bacon cookies.

(I believe I also mentioned I would try to post/eat less cookies.  You get to choose:  wedding or cookies.  That’s what I thought.)

Chris and I were invited to our friend Kyle’s party over the weekend and I thought bacon cookies would be perfect.

It was an ugly sweater party…

So, bacon cookies.

Recipe courtesy of Eat, Drink and Be Meiri

My comments/observations are in italics

1 1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup bacon grease
2 cups sugar
2 large beaten eggs
1/2 cup maple syrup plus extra for the candied bacon
2.5 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups flour
2 lbs bacon
1/2 cup white sugar for coating the dough balls

First things first: the bacon. Line baking sheets with tin foil. Put racks on them, and lay out the bacon. It can overlap some, but not too much. Spread on a healthy amount of maple syrup, spreading it with a brush, if you have one. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes. Flip the bacon, spread on more maple syrup, and bake for another 15 minutes, or until perfectly crisp. You can turn the oven off, because the dough will need to chill out in the fridge for a little bit.

*I did not have racks to use so my bacon didn’t get as crispy as Rose’s did.  Also do not put maple syrup bacon on paper towels*

Next, the grease: Pour about 1/4 cup of the bacon drippings into a measure cup, and set aside. You can discard the rest of the grease if you want. Or save it in your fridge for the next time you’re making pancakes. YUM.

Now, the cookie dough! Melt the butter in the microwave and mix it with the sugar in a large bowl. Let the mixture cool (Since the butter will probably still be warm) and add the beaten eggs. Add maple syrup, baking soda, salt, and vanilla. Mix it all up. (Note:  also add the bacon grease now)

Again with the bacon! Set aside about seven strips of bacon. DO NOT EAT THEM. All of your eating bacon should come from the other bacon. Chop the other bacon up into smallish pieces. Eat as much as you want, but remember, the more bacon that goes in your stomach now, the less bacon you’ll have in your cookies later. Mix you chopped bacon in to the dough. Then add the flour and mix thoroughly.

*This tasted fantastic.  Rose warns you repeatedly not to eat the bacon but I had a harder time not eating all of this dough.  Oddly after chilling it didn’t taste as good.*

It’s chill time! Chill the dough for at least 1 hour in the fridge. (Overnight is fine too.) This is a good time to clean up the kitchen. Alternatively, depending on how much bacon you ate, it’s a great time to take a nap or go for a run. I chose to clean up.

I also chose to clean up.

It’s cookie making time! Roll the dough into walnut sized balls with your hands. Error on the side of small, because these cookies will spread out. Roll the balls in white sugar and place them on parchment lined cookie sheets, 12 to a standard sheet. Keep them at least an inch apart, but more if you have room to spare. They spread out and will mush together if you do what I did and put them too close together. Take your remaining bacon and cut it into half in pieces. Put a piece of bacon on the top of each cookie. Flatten them with a spatula or potato masher. (I used my hand, and tried the baking mats which were a shower gift from Leslie, but ultimately preferred not using the mats).

Baking Time!  Put oven rack in the middle position.  Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes or until nicely browned. Cool on the cookie sheets while you clear off a place for the cookies to cool down further. You can shift the parchment paper off the cookie sheet and place it on, say, your washing machine, so you can reuse that cookie sheet.

Wait a gosh darn minute! The cookies will seem soft, but they will crisp up a little bit. They’re remain sort of soft, though, which is how I like them. (My first batch were too soft and I realized too late they were practically raw in the middle.  Oops.)

Now, eat as many as you want, then pass out in a delicious bacony coma.

Note: If you somehow don’t eat all the cookies right away, you should store them in the fridge, because, yeah, bacon. That goes bad, yo. (I did not read this part until just now.)

the end of the recipe!!

I found a bacon cookie to be a perfect post-race snack after the Reindeer Run 5k.  Okay, not actually, as then I was absolutely starving within an hour, but MAN it was a tasty post-race snack.  I also found out that Rose has a recipe for sausage cookies.  Seriously, how is that woman not 400 pounds??