Maple Bacon Cookies

More About This Recipe

• I do not have a sweet tooth.
  
  I do, however, have a salty sweet tooth. Give me something that’s a little savory and a little sweet and watch out! I don’t share such snacks easily.
  
  This results in me trying to add salty elements into things that are normally 100% sweet. Sugar cookies are a good example.
  
  Just their name implies their super-sweetness. I normally don’t like things with sugar in the title. But glaze a soft sugar cookie with maple and crumble on some bacon and maple bacon cookies are born.
  
  The ultimate in salty sweet combos!
  
  Let’s talk cookie dough first. This is a really basic cookie dough that results in a very soft sugar cookie. Like any cookie dough, start by creaming together the butter and sugar until it’s light and fluffy.
  
  Then mix in the eggs, vanilla, and maple syrup.
  
  In a separate bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients. Then slowly mix those into the butter mixture.
  
  I used some cake flour for my version to make the cookies softer, but if you don’t have cake flour, you can use just all-purpose flour.
  
  Try not to over-mix the dough once the flour is in. Just mix it together until you can’t see any flour anymore.
  
  When the dough is done, scoop it out onto some wax paper and wrap it tightly. Let this chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours or freeze it for about 30 minutes. Having it cold will make it much easier to work with.
  
  Once it’s chilled, roll it out onto a lightly floured surface and cut out some large cookies with it. I used a round cookie cutter that was about 4 inches in diameter. Keep in mind these will expand a bit as they cook.
  
  Lay these out onto a few baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Give the cookies plenty of space. I got 16 cookies out of my dough and used two baking sheets: 8 cookies per sheet.
  
  Cook these guys at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. They should be lightly browned around the edges. Then let them cool for a few minutes and transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
  
  Meanwhile, mix up a quick maple glaze. I just whisked in a few cups of powdered sugar with about ½ cup of maple syrup. If you wanted to up the maple flavor more you could even mix in some maple extract.
  
  I just used really good maple syrup though.
  
  For the bacon, I recommend cooking it on a wire rack in a 350 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes. Put a baking sheet under the wire rack and the grease will drip away from the bacon as it cooks. This will leave you with some super crispy bacon.
  
  Let this cool and then crumble it up!
  
  Once your cookies are completely cooled, go ahead and drizzle on some glaze.
  
  Then sprinkle on some bacon and you’re all set!
  
  These are some tasty and unique cookies. They are rich though, and I wasn’t able to eat more than one of them at a time.
  
  If you’re a salty sweet fanatic like me or a bacon enthusiast, these are the cookies for you!
  
  Nick is a firm believer that anything that tastes good with maple can also have bacon added to it. Be sure to check out his blog, Macheesmo, and follow him on his Tablespoon profile.