Sunday Eats - Just When you Thought it was Safe to Go Back in the Kitchen

I don't know - you could make them a little jet pack.

Abby's Mom here. After playing with the stuffies Abby is out like a light on the couch. While she slept I did a little experiment in the kitchen.

As someone who had a dual graduate major in Criminal Justice and one of the Forensic Sciences, I tend to tinker with things in and out of a laboratory and the shop.  Sometimes the results are good, sometimes they are removed in a bucket with hazmat sign on them.  Still, I continue to tinker.

I decided to make a batch of dark chocolate laced chocolate chip cookies to take to work to share and found I was almost out of butter. I'd been fighting a cold bug over the holidays and hadn't really done much shopping. I then remembered a recipe of my grandmothers for cookies during the depression that used bacon fat. Do you think there is any of that in the house?  Although I really try and eat healthy and have greatly increased my plant-based meals, I still can't resist the non-factory farmed, Amish- raised bacon we get at Beef Mart (and not that's not a euphemism, that is what the place is called). My husband loves eggs and bacon on  Sunday morning, and wouldn't try cereal on his day of rest even if it was made with meat (Hmm, which cereal do I want, Scrapple Jacks or Honey Bunches of Goats?).

So adding a little bacony goodness to cookies is beyond simple.

I simply replaced half of the butter in the traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe on the chocolate chip bag with bacon fat (which before storing, I strain if the bacon bits left in it are really burned, otherwise I just use straight). I also added an extra drop of vanilla extract and a tiny pinch of cinnamon and cayenne.

The results? Plump and perfect, the perfect porcine product. Absolutely better than the butter or (ugh) Crisco versions. Did they taste like bacon? No. There was only the barest hint of smokiness in the background, blending with the dark chocolate, much like the subtle bouquet of a bottle of good wine.

click to enlarge photo

But maybe you shouldn't listen to me about the wine thing. The last time I was asked to sample an expensive bottle of wine in a snooty restaurant at my hotel, it came out something like this.

Wine Sommelier (not to be confused with Sommelier Pirate): Miss, what do you think of the Cabernet?
Me: A nice undertone of khaki but a heavy wine like this should be used only for hand-to-hand combat. What do you have in a Pinot?

But trust me on the bacon chocolate chip cookies!

INCOMING!