Have you heard of the Secret Recipe Club? It’s kind of like the Secret Agents of the blogging world. Except it’s not. Not at all. I just couldn’t think of anything cool to compare them to.
What they are is a group of bloggers who get together once a month. We’re assigned a blog and asked to pick out a recipe from that blog. We make/bake the recipe, tweaking things here and there as we see fit. And then, there’s this big reveal. The entire thing is a secret until our day comes around. It’s oh so exciting.
Seriously it is. I’ve been waiting weeks for my reveal. Weeks I tell ya. I’m not a patient person.
I was given Life’s Simple Measures and immediately devoured her web site. I had to go through her recipes at least five times before I narrowed the selection down to two recipes that I wanted to make. Then I asked Hubs which one I should do.
He picked one.
Then I picked the other one.
We’re a good team like that.
I couldn’t resist the idea of Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies. I’ve been dying to make them ever since the Maple Bacon Cupcakes I whipped up for Father’s Day.
There was a day when I was totally grossed out by the idea of chocolate and bacon together. But those days are far behind me. Now, I’m curious. Mmmmmmm, sweet and salty. You just can’t beat it.
I didn’t modify much in the recipe, because it just seemed too perfect to tamper with, but I did put a few signature touches on it. I marinated the cookie dough overnight, without the bacon, because nothing beat cookie dough that’s left to sit in the fridge for at least 12 hours. The flavors, oh my, are out of this world.
And then, instead of mixing the bacon into the cookies, I pressed it on top, just to be sure that no one missed the bacon-goodness.
Have you tried candied bacon? You could easily just make the bacon, chop it up and snack on it alone. Although you may feel a little remorse after, it will totally be worth it. Totally.
One final note, the baking times for both the candied bacon and the cookies themselves were way off, at least with my oven. So I’ve adjusted the baking times to my experience, but you may want to pop over to the original recipe and check out her times, just to keep them in the back of you mind, should your oven run hotter than mine.
So, feast your eyes, and then run to the grocery store, stock up on bacon and get these babies in your oven.
I have to admit that even though these are good in their own unique way, I’ve already told Hubs that I won’t make them again unless he asks for them. I’m all for sweet and salty, but I much prefer a traditional chocolate chip cookie.
But if the chocolate-bacon combo is your thing, these cookies are salty-sweet perfection.
Ingredients
- 8 slices thick bacon
- 1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
- 2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 whole egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º.
- Line a baking sheet with tin foil sprayed with non-stick spray or a Silicone Baking Mat
. Lay bacon in a single layer and sprinkle with brown sugar.
- Bake at 350º for about 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes, or until crispy. Let cool.
- In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the whole egg, egg yolk and vanilla, mix to combine. Slowly add the flour and baking soda, mix well. Using a spatula, stir in the chocolate chips.
- Let the cookie dough marinade for at least 12 hours in the fridge. This helps to blend the flavors and produce out of this world cookies.
- Preheat the oven to 325º.
- Roll the cookie dough into golf ball sized balls, approximately 24. Press the candied bacon on the top and place on parchment or Silicone Baking Mat
- Bake at 325º for 15-18 minutes.
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{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
I don’t know about this AllI! I like my bacon and my cookies seperate but i trust you so if you say it is good then I am all far it! I know the hubs would certainly be in heaven! Great job and the pics are awesome
Thanks! I’ve been spending more time on food photography lately, I’m glad it shows.
Cool idea but I think I’m in your camp too.
My husband would propose to me all over again if I made these for him.
Lots of roasted chickpeas in the SRC this month. Another sign that I need to make them. Stat.
LOL!
I’ve been meaning to try roasted chickpeas too. I’ll have to check out some of those recipes.
i think i’m gonna use the fact that i am gluten/sugar free as a great excuse to not have to try this recipe!
i just cant wrap my brain around this one…love bacon, love chocolate chip cookies, but i don’t think i could do them together….you are a brave woman!! 
That’s a pretty good excuse! They are interesting cookies, that’s for sure.
YUM! I have to try this recipe.
I have wanted to try a recipe like this, but my husband’s dislike of the idea of this combo has kept me from it. But I’m about to make them no matter what, yours look delicious!
Yes, try them! Let me know what you think.
Oh my! I’ve been wanting to try this combo as well– I’ve done brown sugar bacon before but with choc chip cookies I bet it is really good!
I am going to have to take your word for this. I have seen more bizarre combinations work though. Cudos to you for trying something different! Great SRC post!
Thanks Eliot! It was a fun experiment.
I’m in the camp of loving sweet and salty, especially if the sweet is chocolate and the salty is bacon. If they made chocolate covered bacon, I’d probably eat it! Great SRC pick.
They do make it! My husband loves it it actually a chocolate bar with pieces of bacon. I can’t remember the brand though.
Woah, those are amazing!
These cookies with bacon sound addictive! Awesome to be in the Secret Recipe Club with you. Here is my post from group C – http://su.pr/2rtACr
That tart sounds amazing! Wonderful photos too.
I’ve never heard of marinading cookie dough, neat! and these so looks awesome but odd in the a great way tho! love it!
Glad to be in Group C with you
For the love of insanity. Oh my gosh.
First of all, you always post insanely good stuff, because every time I click on your link from Itsablogparty.com, I find you. And I don’t even know it’s you before I click it
Second of all, you had me at “candied bacon.” I posted a link to the best chocolate chip cookies ever (IMO) from the America’s Test Kitchen recipe at http://www.tmuffin.com/2011/09/best-chocolate-chip-cookies-ever.html. Methinks I must add bacon.
I love your recipe! Very Unique! Would you come over to CAST PARTY WEDNESDAY tomorrow and share it with us?
Thanks,
I hope to see you there!
http://ladybehindthecurtain.com
OH>MY>WORD!
Just pinned this recipe to my Pinterest.
WOWZA
I blogged these a couple months ago and they were amazing! For skeptics, the bacon comes out being the texture of raisins…and the saltiness is great with the chocolate (think pretzels and chocolate!)
I am part of the Crazy Cooking Challenge at Mom’s Crazy Cooking and we had to choose a chocolate chip cookie recipe from another blog, bake it, and blog about it …and I chose these!! Stop by and check out my post
…and thank you so much for this awesome recipe!!
http://everything-underthemoon.blogspot.com/2011/10/candied-bacon-chocolate-chip-cookies.html
I made these cookies last week (found this recipe on another site) and they were a hit!
Well, they were sort of a hit. I thought my dad would love them, but the idea of bacon in chocolate chip cookies weirded them out and he would only try a little nibble sans bacon pieces. My mom wouldn’t touch them either.
I took them to work and they were devoured! Some tried them without knowing what was in them and others asked first, but everyone raved about them. I got high fives from some of the guys and the recipe requested from some of the girls.
I’m making them again tonight to take to a tailgate tomorrow!
Notes about the recipe:
I contemplated using my normal chocolate chip recipe, but went with this one and I loved the consistency of the cookie dough and the resulting cookies.
The bacon and cookies need to bake for longer than the recipe states.
Making the candied bacon was a mess! Almost made it not worth trying again. Baking the bacon causes this flood of bacon grease and melted sugar that got between the foil and the cookie sheet. By the time the bacon was finally finished baking the foil was completely stuck to the sheet. I soaked the cookie sheet all day and still couldn’t manage to pull the foil off – so there has to be a better way to candy the bacon!
Made these yesterday, what a hit! My housemates (all hungry college students) were wild about the idea of bacon IN a cookie. I am lactose intolerant so I made some vegan substitutions and posted this on my brand new blog. Please feel free to check it out!
http://princessinthekitchen.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/candied-bacon-and-chocolate-chip-cookies-2/
Thanks so much for a great recipe!
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