From the back of the package, with a little twist. I needed to make cookies and when I looked in the cupboard for chocolate chips, I found these instead.
Here’s what I did:
Sea salt caramels and salted chocolates have been on my radar all year. I don’t remember when salty and sweet took off in this way, but it sure is good. And I’ve always liked the combination of peanut butter and bacon, so I thought I would find some way to use it to introduce a salty, savory note into what was sure to be a pretty good cookie.
In the refrigerator there happened to be a pound of bacon, so I diced that and fried it for 10 minutes, rendering all the fat until there were nice, brown crispy bits.
I drained all the fat, and set the bits aside. Some recipes for bacon in cookies replace some of the butter with bacon grease, but I did not do that as I planned to set aside a few cookies for vegetarian friends.
Then, I made the chocolate peanut butter chip cookies as directed on the back of the package of peanut butter chips. My only tweaks were to use turbinado sugar, and to add in an extra teaspoon of vanilla extract.
I used a #40 disher to scoop out balls of dough onto an air-insulated baking sheet. These will be larger than the recipe directs – you get 3 dozen cookies plus a handful when you do this.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 11 minutes. Do not overbake, pull them out when they’re still soft and puffy. Immediately press one teaspoon of bacon crispy bits onto the top of each soft cookie while still on the baking sheet, then spatula off the baking sheet and let cool on a wire rack. It helps to have a thin metal spatula to pull this off without destroying the cookies.
These were the vegetarian version ( no bacon ).
The “BCP” cookie. Enjoy.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1¼ cups butter ( 2½ sticks )
- 2 cups sugar ( I used turbinado )
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract ( I used 3 )
- 1 pkg (10 oz ) peanut butter chips
- 1 # sliced bacon
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Dice bacon into ¼" pieces and fry until browned - you are looking for bacon bits. Drain fat completely and place bits into small bowl.
- Beat butter and sugar in a bowl until creamy. Mix all other dry ingredients ( flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda ) in a separate bowl. Add eggs and vanilla extract to butter and sugar mixture, then add in flour mixture slowly until ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
- By hand or lightly by mixer, add peanut butter chips and mix just until they are combined. Don't blend the chips into mush.
- Using a #40 disher or a spoon, place balls of dough on ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 11 minutes. The ball shape makes for puffy cookies. I could fit 12 to a sheet.
- When still puffy and hot from oven, press 1 tsp crisp bacon onto the top of each cookie, then remove from sheet to a cooling rack.