Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies
After I made those disappointing Bacon Bourbon Brownies, I couldn’t get the thought of a bacon-ey dessert out of my head. Luckily there are plenty of bacon filled desserts out there on the internet. I was so happy when I took my first bite of these cookies. The bacon lends a smokey saltiness that isn’t too overpowering but very well appreciated.
I took these cookies to work and had fun listening to people’s reaction when they saw the label on the ziplock bag. Some people were instantly turned off by the idea of bacon in a cookie. Others were intrigued and a few of them didn’t believe there was actually bacon in them until they took a bite.
I chopped the bacon pretty small so you don’t see huge chunks of bacon. I wanted them to be about the same size as a chocolate chip and I think that size worked well. You could definitely use larger chunks to get more of a wow-factor just by looking at the cookies.
Two Years Ago: Spicy Sweet Pretzel Party Mix
Three Years Ago: Alton Brown’s Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
Four Years Ago: Chocolate Cupcakes and Stuffed Chicken Burgers
Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies
Bacon in chocolate chip cookies?!? It's seriously delicious.
Yield: 4 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
For the candied Bacon
6 slices thick-cut bacon
1/2 cup brown sugar
For the Cookies
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups chocolate chips
Directions:
For the Bacon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place bacon in a single layer on a foil lined sheet.
Sprinkle brown sugar on top of bacon strips. Bake for 18-25 minutes or until crispy, making sure to turn bacon over after 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and place on a wire rack for cooling. Once bacon has cooled chop it finely.
For the Cookies
Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
Sift flour and baking soda.
In a medium bowl, cream butter with the white and brown sugar. Add vanilla, egg, and egg yolk to the bowl and beat until light and creamy. Add flour mixture and mix well.
Add diced candied bacon and chocolate chips and stir until just combined.
Place tablespoon sized balls of dough on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 13-15 minutes or until edges are brown. Remove from oven and let cookies sit on the pan for a couple of minutes before placing on a wire rack.
Recipe from Tablespoon, as seen on Fake Ginger
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I love freezing dough but somehow most ends up in my tummy unbaked when I do that 🙂
What a great gift! I’m thinking that would be wonderful for all sorts of occasions. Thanks for the idea!
These are adorable and I love that idea! Two questions, though: 1) Were these as good as the cookies from the other recipes? and 2) When you freeze them, do you bake right from frozen?
Great questions Carly – As far as comparing them to the other cookies. I enjoyed the chocolate M&M cookies the best, but they were REALLY chocolatey. The other non-chocolate M&M cookies were a bit more chewy and they had nuts in them, so they had a different vibe. This recipe was more of a classic M&M cookie for sure.
As far as baking from frozen, you can def just go straight from freezer to oven. Bake them ~13 minutes instead of ~11 and take them out when they look done.
these were delicious!
they look so cute all frozen up 🙂
I love the pink and red M&Ms. Thanks for the idea of freezing the cookie dough.
I was going to ask you the same thing as Carly, well the first question. These cookies are cute. Your freezing method reminded me that I have a bunch of sugar cookies still in the freezer! Do you know how long cookies can stay in the freezer?
I don’t know how long they will last in the freezer. I have a tendency to forget about things in my freezer… I’d guess a couple months? Anyone have ideas?
What festive little cookies 🙂 I love them! I also like the fact that you froze them. I bet they were delicious. Make sure to enter the All Through the Year Cheer event for Valentine’s Day 🙂
I think that sounds like a great way to spend valentine’s day. It can be intimidating the way it’s so hyped up. The cookies look very festive, love ’em!
We don’t do “valentine’s day” either since my MIL was born on the 14th and daughter’s birthday is the 15th – besides, its more important to say you love someone everyday, not just one day out of the year. Love the idea about freezing the cookie dough in preshaped form and giving that away. Wonderful idea!
I am looking for cookies that travel well for my soldier adopted through Soldier’s Angels and these look like a winner!!
Mmm, these were so tasty! Happy Valentine’s Day!
These are just too cute!! I love M&M cookies too!!
http://www.singforyoursupperblog.com
Just had to add my two cents on the idea of giving cookie dough frozen and ready to be baked – genius! For some reason, I’ve never thought of that, even though I’ve given cookies frozen to people to be defrosted when they’re ready to eat. I love the dough idea!
YUM-these look absolutely delicious! I love the pink and red M&Ms!