Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

My favorite foods right now: chocolate and bacon. In that order.

Now, what might happen if you combine the two? In a cookie?

Woah!

Now, some of you may be thinking "Ewwwww! Bacon in a cookie?", as certain people did when I told them what I was going to make. Be brave. Try something new. Put some bacon in your cookies. And better yet, candy the bacon first!

These cookies were good. I wasn't as mind-blown as I thought I was going to be about them. Spice suggested next time to make the candied bacon bits a little bigger, because then you will just get chunks of bacon in the cookies. As these were, though, you get more of a bacon-punch when you bite into it. Very good!

I decided to really get crazy and make these into ice cream sandwiches by scooping soft vanilla ice cream in the middle, and rolling in colored sprinkles. Taking a bite is like a 5-flavor explosion in your mouth!



Candied Bacon
From Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy via David Lebovitz

8 strips bacon
1/2 cup light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Lay the strips of bacon on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or aluminum foil, shiny side down.

Sprinkle half of the brown sugar evenly over each strip of bacon.

Bake for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and flip bacon over, making sure to drag through the brown sugar syrup. Add remaining brown sugar over the top. Return to the oven and bake about 5 more minutes, until a deep mahogany color.

Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. When cool, chop into peices.

Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks

1 cup Candied Bacon Bits 

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease several baking sheets.

Beat the sugars and butter together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda.  Whisk together the flour and salt, then sift them into the batter.  Stir in the chocolate chunks and bacon bits.

Using a small cookie scoop or a teaspoon, scoop the cookie dough into small balls, about 1-inch in diameter, and place them 2 inches apart on each of the baking sheets.

Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until pale golden brown.  Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.