Applewood Smoked Bacon Chocolate Chunk Cookies
I wish I could take credit for these, but alas – they are the brainchild of Jen at Chocolate & Ginger. She came up with them to sell at the Food Blogger Bake Sale taking place this weekend at the Market Collective, happening this weekend in the old Anthill building in Kensington (148-10 St NW) in support of Calgary Meals on Wheels. It runs on Saturday 10-6 and Sunday 11-5 – admission is $2 or a food bank donation. We chatted about it on CBC this morning, and so I made these to bring in – bacon is a breakfast food, right? – and made a great number of people very happy.
I’ll be at the bake sale on Saturday from 12-2pm flogging our wares.. not quite sure what I’ll be making yet. Possibly maple sponge toffee. Or brownie pops. Or maybe some good old pound cakes and loaves. W and I bought mini pie tins, and now he’s all revved up to make little pies. So there’s that. Except that once we make them I may not be able to part with them. I get attached that way.
It’s quite a lineup of food bloggers on board – it was dreamt up and organized by Vincci of Ceci n’est pas un food blog, and besides myself she rounded up Pierre of Kitchen Scraps, Jen of Chocolate & Ginger, Dan of Dan’s Good Side, Vlad of Vlad’s Gonzo Food Blog, Lauren of Celiac Teen, Claire of I Love Alberta Beets, Zoey of Vegedible, Chelsey of The Crazy Kitchen, Fareen of Food Mamma John & Nancy of ChowTown, Cheryl of Backseat Gourmet, Peter of The Celiac Husband, Liz of Truffle Mutt, Andrea of Live, Laugh, Love, EAT!!!, Heather the Calgary Restaurant Examiner and Bonnie of Scrumptiously Fit Food.
Phew. That took a lot of energy. I need a cookie.
So have you heard of Mo’s Bacon Bars? I had heard of them, but not tried one – they are Applewood bacon + alderwood salt + deep milk chocolate – 82 g (or thereabouts) for $10. Fortunately I’m not rich enough to become addicted. (You can find them at Savour in Inglewood and the Cookbook Company on 11th Ave.) Jen had the brilliant idea to turn them into a cookie.
I imagine you could chop up a Mo’s Bacon Bar into any chocolate chip cookie dough, but this is a good one. Crispy edged, soft in the middle. (If you’re looking for a sort of chocolate chip cookie tutorial, I posted one over here today.)
Chocolate & Ginger’s Applewood Smoked Bacon Chocolate Chunk Cookies
recipe courtesy of Jen at Chocolate & Ginger – thanks Jen!
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups chopped toasted walnuts or pecans
1 Vosges Mo’s bacon bar (with applewood smoked bacon, alderwood smoked salt and deep milk chocolate), chopped
1 70% dark chocolate bar (ie Lindt/Valrhona), cut into rough small chunks or 1 1/4 cup dark choc chips works tooIn a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or like me, with a bowl and wooden spoon), beat together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla just until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time until incorporated, then stir in the flour mixture followed by the nuts and chocolate chunks.
On a lightly floured work surface, divide the dough into quarters. Shape each quarter into a log about 9 inches long. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, preferably overnight – or freezer for couple hours to speed up.
Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Slice the logs into disks 3/4 inch thick and place the disks 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. If the nuts or chips crumble out, simply push them back in.
Bake, rotating the baking sheets midway through baking, until the cookies are very lightly browned in the centers, about 10 minutes.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to handle, then use a spatula to transfer them to a wire rack.
June 15 2010 10:41 pm | cookies & squares
jen on 15 Jun 2010 at 10:55 pm #
Thanks so much for featuring and baking my cookies Julie! I’m so thrilled to hear that they were a hit!
BTW, they look great in the pics.
{My recipe on the CBC eyeopener} « Chocolate & Ginger on 15 Jun 2010 at 10:58 pm #
[...] June 15, 2010 · 2 Comments The lovely Julie Van Rosendaal from “dinner with julie” featured the Calgary food blogger bake sale this weekend on the show this morning and featured my recipe on the website. Check out the radio bit here (under Blogger’s charity bake sale Jun 15th). She also posted the recipe on her website which you can find here [...]
Erica B. on 16 Jun 2010 at 8:46 am #
Ooooh these look fantastic! We were looking for an excuse to daytrip with the kids this weekend – I think we’ll have to make a stop at the bake sale after the zoo
Amanda on 16 Jun 2010 at 8:56 am #
man alive! I only knew about 4 of those local food blogs out of that entire list! Thanks for the round up! Enjoy your cookies, they look and sound delicious! I’m using way too many exclamation points!
Stacey on 16 Jun 2010 at 10:01 am #
I’m moving from Vancouver to Calgary…giving up my mountains and my ocean and my winter-less winter all in favor of bacon chocolate bars, mini pies, the best outdoor foodie events, and bacon chocolate bars. Did I mention that already?
I’ve got a friend coming in from Calgary for the weekend…thank goodness Westjet doesn’t charge for luggage! She’s got quite the list of treasures to bring!
drool drool drool!
Hettar7 on 16 Jun 2010 at 12:24 pm #
I’m glad other people liked these cookies.
But, sigh….. I must state for the record and wherever I can that I dislike the bacon + chocolate, or for that matter bacon + any dessert, combination. I blame the Vosques Mo’s Bacon Bar for it. Yes, I tried it. I am open minded (I loved their white chocolate Kalamata Olive Bar). I didn’t like the Bacon Bar. I’m surprised so many people do and that the combination just took off like wildfire. To each their own.
Off my soapbox now….
Nicole on 16 Jun 2010 at 12:51 pm #
Can’t wait to stop in at the bake sale!
lisa on 16 Jun 2010 at 7:02 pm #
What a great twist on the classic chocolate chip! These sounds amazing — a little sweet, a little savory — the best combination.
kamran siddiqi on 17 Jun 2010 at 8:27 am #
OH. MY. GOSH! I’ll need to make these right away! What’s better than Applewood Smoked Bacon in a cookie? Yum!
Barb on 17 Jun 2010 at 11:26 am #
These sound amazing. Thanks for sharing!
Cathy D (Calgary) on 17 Jun 2010 at 3:48 pm #
I was teaching a class today on social media and using your blog as an example of a great blog.
This post stopped class dead. Not only did we have to examine the cookie recipe, but we had to examine your recipe index, ha!
Some new fans I think for sure.
natalie (ga) on 17 Jun 2010 at 7:28 pm #
What about “Bean Believer” still thinking…
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