Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

It’s a bit of a joke in my household that I don’t often make chocolate chip cookies, which are my husband’s favorite. There are just so many variations that I can post on my blog. Apparently his coworkers bring him chocolate chip cookies from time to time, since he is lacking such a basic resource at home. We often have lots of baked goods around, so I don’t feel too bad about this!

His colleagues sometimes send him recipes and ask “Is this different enough for Nicole to bake?” I think this is quite funny and I am impressed that they pay some attention to the recipes I blog. This cookie idea was sent to my husband, and I figured that it was different enough to blog about. My husband sent me a few recipes and I chose this one, although it does call for three types of sugar and two types of chips. And bacon!

They key for these cookies is that the bacon isn’t too greasy, which is why we thought of using the precooked bacon. We couldn’t find that so we ended up with microwave bacon and drained it well. After it cooled I chopped it into ½” pieces or so- the crispier the bacon the less precise cutting is! The recipe you see here is half of the original, but I still made about 4 dozen cookies. These turned out picture perfect, and I hope they will allay any “you don’t make chocolate chip cookies” comments.

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies
½ pound bacon
¾ cup butter, melted
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
½ cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 egg + 1 yolk
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Cook the bacon until crispy. Set the cooked bacon on paper towels and allow the bacon to drain the excess grease. Once the extra grease has been removed, chop the bacon.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, dark and light brown sugar, and the sugar. Mix on medium until the mixture comes together. Add the vanilla and eggs and stir again to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Using a spatula, fold in the bittersweet and semisweet chips and the chopped bacon.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls and place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 14-16 minutes, until the edges of the cookies brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Serious Eats

Lemon Ginger Cookies with Crystallized Ginger

At work we were having a celebration for one of my colleagues who is having a baby! I didn’t have too many specific requests but wanted to avoid chocolate if possible. I came across a couple of recipes and ended up choosing a lemon ginger shortbread that I had been waiting to make. Since I only needed to change the butter to vegan butter, I also made these dairy free (except for the egg). I made the slice and bake cookie dough and then baked the cookies, but they baked too long. They looked fine on top, but the bottoms were burned.

I had to go with Plan B, which is a cookie with crystallized ginger, and to honor the original cookies, I added lemon zest to the dough and added a lemon glaze to them. They don’t look the same, but they have the same flavors, and that’s good. This dough came together with no issue, and the cookies came out of the oven nice and crinkly, which was perfect. I could have left of the glaze, but I wanted to include more lemon flavor in these cookies.

You do need to be thoughtful when baking with vegan butter. For the most part it works just like butter, but I do think the original shortbread I made browned too quickly because the vegan butter acts just a little differently. For the glaze, I used the glaze from the original recipe. It called for lemon juice, but I needed to thin it a touch so I had purchased some non-dairy milk that I could use. When I dipped the cookies, I suppose that the glaze could have been thicker, but it still worked well.

Lemon Ginger Cookies with Crystallized Ginger
120 grams butter or vegan butter
200 grams sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
250 grams flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
150 grams finely chopped crystallized ginger
2 cups powdered sugar
2-1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
Pinch of salt
Additional lemon juice or milk, as needed

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and vanilla. Beat on medium until light. Add the egg and lemon zest and mix again to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and ginger. Mix on low until the dough almost comes together. Add the chopped crystallized ginger and mix again, on low, until the dough is cohesive.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls and place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the cookies are set and beginning to turn golden. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the glaze: in a medium bowl combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and salt. Whisk until a smooth glaze forms, thinning with additional lemon juice or milk if needed. Dip the cooled cookies halfway into the glaze, wiping off any excess. Allow the cookies to set on a wire rack before serving.

Recipe from Where is My Spoon? Glaze recipe from King Arthur Flour

Maple Cinnamon Mummy Cookies

I have been saving these cookies to make for Halloween and the time finally arrived! While these cookies could be made without candy eyes and simply look like a maple cinnamon cookie with a drizzled glaze, why would you not go that extra step to celebrate the holiday? I will be honest that I bought candy eyes some time ago and then realized that package was quite small, prompting me to make am 8 pm dash to the local store to find more. I do plan, it just isn’t always quite enough.

These cookies come together quickly, a spiced cookie with maple syrup. I used some bourbon-barrel aged maple syrup as we had some and my husband thought that would taste great. You can use whatever maple syrup you have, but do make sure it isn’t pancake syrup. That is a completely different ingredient. You can also use heavy cream, milk, or half and half for the glaze. The type of milk you use will impact the fluidity of the glaze, but you can adapt to that.

This recipe made a fairly big batch of cookies, so I experimented a little. I flattened some cookies and not others, and the ones that I didn’t flatten looked better in the end. The recipe I give here for the glaze is double the original, and I could have used more glaze. I made about 1-1/2 recipes of the glaze and still ran out. I’d rather have too much glaze than too little. These cookies are quite sweet, but that’s to be expected with the maple and the glaze and the candy eyes!

Maple Cinnamon Mummy Cookies
1 cup butter, melted and cooled
1½ cups packed brown sugar
⅓ cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon maple extract
1 egg
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5-6 tablespoons heavy cream
Candy eyes

In a large mixer bowl, combine the melted butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla ad maple extract. Mix on medium until the mixture comes together. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. Mix just until the dough comes together evenly. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape the dough into balls, about 1-1/4” in diameter. Place them on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until slightly puffy but set. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Once the cookies are cooled, make the glaze: in a medium bowl, combine the powdered sugar, vanilla and 4 tablespoons heavy cream. Using a small whisk, beat the mixture until a glaze forms, adding additional heavy cream as needed to reach drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the cookies and add candy eyes if desired. Allow the glaze to set before serving.

Recipe from Cooking with Carlee

Apple Butter Swirl Cookies

At our local fall festival, there are so many vendors and it can be really overwhelming! We tend to pick up the same sorts of things: candy of different sorts, jams and jellies, candles, holiday decorations, and that sort of thing. I also like to look at the jewelry vendors, as I often wear necklaces to work. Some necklaces are just too large, but it is always fun to look.

We did pick up some apple butter at the festival, and it felt like it had been ages since I made anything with apple butter, so I sought out a couple of different recipes to try. When I searched my blog, I had made a couple of things with apple butter, but mainly bar cookies and also an apple butter thumbprint cookie. These have a swirl that you partially freeze and then add to the dough. That worked ok, although I am not sure that it is super obvious when you look at the cookies.

I had read through the recipe and there were no issues, but at the end the original blogger said that the recipe would make about 11 cookies. That seemed odd to me, but her cookies were quite large (2.5 ounces). I make cookies my “regular” size and that ended up weighing about 1 ounce. The size of your cookies will impact baking time, but I baked mine about 13 minutes. The swirl is interesting; in one or two cookies, the swirl was too close to the edge and melted a bit, but otherwise they were good. These cookies are soft, because of the apple butter, but also crisp. It seems like an impossible combination, but it works in these cookies!

Apple Butter Swirl Cookies
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon apple butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup apple butter
1 egg
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon apple butter
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream

In a small bowl, combine the melted butter, apple butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Stir until well combined. Cover the bowl and place in the freezer for 15 minutes.

In a large mixer bowl, add the butter, brown sugar, and apple butter. Mix on medium until the mixture comes together, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat again on medium until incorporated. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until the flour almost disappears into the dough.

Remove the cinnamon/apple butter mixture from the freezer. Drop pieces of the mixture on top of the dough. Turn the mixer on and off, swirling the cinnamon/apple butter mixture into the dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, placing around 8 cookies per baking sheet.

Bake for 13-15 minutes, until set and the cookies don’t look wet. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies are cool, make the glaze: in a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, apple butter, and 2 tablespoons heavy cream. If the mixture is too thick, add additional heavy cream and again whisk until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies.

Recipe from Baran Bakery

Almond Shortbread Bars

I have been planning to make these bar cookies for quite a while, and I really don’t know why it took me so long to do so. Some time ago I went to the store to get almond paste, as that was the one ingredient in these cookies that was more uncommon. It was quite hard to find, as the stores carried marzipan rather than almond paste. They are similar but not the same. I was really upset when they put tubes of marzipan in an almond paste display! I finally found it at least. (Almond paste has more almonds and marzipan has more sugar, FYI.)

I have used almond paste in different ways, but in this case, it gets added to the dough. You want to make sure the almond paste is in small pieces when you add it or it won’t incorporate easily. Other than making sure that the almond paste is evenly incorporated, these bars are not difficult. They are sticky, and spreading in the pan isn’t easy, but my slightly damp hands worked best.

They cool just a few minutes and then make the glaze. It starts with melting butter and cream. I was out of cream so I used milk, which made my glaze a little thinner. After assembling the glaze, I let it sit about 5 minutes and that helped. It does thicken as it cools, so don’t be too concerned. While the glaze does remain somewhat soft, the bars have the best almond flavor you can imagine. I thought ½ a cup of butter was a lot for the glaze, but it isn’t; it just makes it extra tasty.

Almond Shortbread Bars
1 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (156 grams) almond paste
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups flour

1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup heavy cream (or milk)
About 3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup sliced/slivered almonds

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium until light. Cut the almond paste into small pieces and add to the mixer bowl along with the egg and almond extract. Mix on medium until the mixture is smooth and the almond paste is well distributed in the dough. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, stirring just until the dough comes together.

Spread the dough in an even layer in the prepared pan. A metal spatula and slightly damp hands can help in this process.

Bake for about 25 minutes, until the bars begin to turn golden. Allow the bars to cool 10 minutes before making the glaze.

Make the glaze: in a medium saucepan, add the butter and heavy cream. Heat on medium low, stirring frequently, until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in about 2-1/2 cups of powdered sugar and the almond extract. If the mixture seems too thin, add additional powdered sugar. Stir in the sliced/slivered almonds.

Pour the glaze over the partially cooled bars, making sure that the glaze covers evenly. Allow the glaze to fully set (or refrigerate) before removing the bars from the pan and cutting into squares.

Recipe from The View from the Great Island

Maple Glazed Apple Blondies

It’s fall and I love baking with apples. We have a good quantity of maple syrup at home, too, so I try to find recipes that include both. I have had these bars pinned for a while, and finally I can make them! I don’t always have apples on hand, but I was able to get a couple of apples that I knew I could use for this exact recipe.

The original recipe calls for a 7” x 11” pan, and I don’t think I have a pan that size. I’m in the middle of moving some cupboards around in the kitchen, so I’ll be honest that I didn’t look very much. When I don’t have the specific pan, I find a different pan that has roughly the same area, so a 9” square pan was close. Despite using a slightly larger pan, I was surprised that these cookies were as thick as they were.

These blondies are very cake-like, but that’s ok. Somehow the soft, cakey texture makes these taste that much better! When you are shaping the blondies, it is quite challenging to spread the dough. I used my hands (somewhat damp hands), and even that was a challenge as the dough is so sticky. Perhaps the dough needed to be refrigerated a short time to make it less sticky, but I didn’t have time to do that. I think that these are just about the best cookies for fall that I have made in a long time!

Maple Glazed Apple Blondies
2 large apples, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
About 1 cup powdered sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

Make the apple filling: in a medium saucepan, combine the apples, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and cinnamon. Cook on medium-low for 4-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool for 10 minutes.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Mix on medium until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon.

Divide the dough into halves; press half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan, using your hands to ensure even coverage. Top with the apple filling. Top the bars with the remaining dough, piecing the dough together to create a full top layer.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the bars are golden and test clean with a cake tester. Allow the bars to cool before making the glaze.

Make the glaze: in a small microwaveable bowl, combine the butter, maple syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon, microwaving and stirring until the butter is melted. Remove from the microwave and whisk in about ¾ cup powdered sugar. Allow the glaze to set and thicken for about 10 minutes. If the glaze is still too thin, whisk in additional powdered sugar. Top the bars with the maple glaze, spreading the glaze evenly. Allow the glaze to completely set before removing from the pan and cutting into bars.

Recipe from A Latte Food

Cashew Toffee Cookies

After making the toffee cashew cookies and then a gluten free variation, I realized that both versions contained chocolate! I needed to make a chocolate free version, and I wasn’t sure quite what to do. I could have made the browned butter toffee cashew cookies and left out the chocolate chips, but I did have this recipe that didn’t call for chocolate, so I went with this one. I didn’t have quite a full cup of cashews and probably didn’t have quite enough toffee bits, but it was close. For the chocolate-free version, make sure you use the toffee bits that don’t have chocolate (usually called English toffee bits).

These again were easy to make, and the slight variation in the quantity of cashews and toffee bits didn’t seem to make a difference. I have never made a recipe that called for 1-1/8 cups flour, so that was certainly different. The recipe asks that you refrigerate the dough for several hours or overnight, and I didn’t have time to do that. I chilled the dough for about an hour, and hoped for the best.

My cookies did brown a bit more than expected and they spread some, which I think is likely because they didn’t get as chilled as they needed to be. I have thought of making another batch, refrigerating the dough more appropriately, but I’m not sure I will get to that. Probably not! While I would have liked these to look a little better, the flavors were lovely and it’s hard to go wrong with cashews and toffee, and you don’t notice at all that there’s no chocolate.

Cashew Toffee Cookies
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 1/8 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup toffee bits
1 cup chopped cashews

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and brown sugar. Mix on medium until light, then stir in the vanilla and egg. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold in the toffee bits and chopped cashews with a spatula.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Using a cookie scoop, scoop the dough into the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden. Cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Small Town Woman