Brown Butter, Bacon, & Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oh boy, this is a new favorite! You can't go wrong with bacon. The salty sweet combination of chocolate and hickory-smoked bacon is absolutely divine. This recipe is so easy, too!

Ingredients
 set oven to 350
 
1 3/4 c. Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
12 Tb. Unsalted Butter
1/2 c. Sugar
3/4 c. packed Dark Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract (I use Organic Madagascar Bourbon)
1 Large Egg
1 Large Egg Yolk
4 oz. Dark Chocolate, diced or slivered into 1/4" pieces (or whatever you'd like)
1 c. Bacon (fried until crispy, diced into 1/4" pieces)
keep the bacon grease!

Make it!

1) After setting your oven to 350, whisk together your flour and baking soda.

2) Fry up at least 8 pieces of bacon... local hickory smoked is the bomb, if you can find that! Let those get real nice and crispy before transferring them to a paper towel-covered plate to cool. It's great to make extra so that you must eat a few of those delicious strips of pig. Don't throw out the bacon grease. Chop the bacon into small 1/4" pieces.

3) Now, using a skillet over medium flame, toss in 10 tbsp. of unsalted butter, stirring continuously and watching it like a hawk. You don't want your brown butter to become burnt butter. Once it's all melted and golden, transfer that to a heat-safe bowl. Now add in about 1 extra tbsp of butter, and pour in the extra bacon grease that you created. Oh boy!

4) In your mixing bowl, pour your brown butter in, along with your sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. Mix! This concoction on its own is to die for. Try dipping a piece of bacon in. Mmmmmm...

5) Add egg and egg yolk. Mix until its all very smooth. Let it sit for about 30 seconds, and mix again just to be sure that sugar is really well mixed/dissolved.

6) Chop your chocolate off the block, or from a chocolate bar or use a bag of chocolate morsels. Whatever strikes your fancy. I personally loved chopping slivers off of a quality block of dark chocolate.

7) With a wooden spoon, stir in the chocolate and bacon pieces until its all very combined.

8) Transfer dough balls to a parchment paper-covered cookie sheet, and bake for about 13 minutes. Keep watch! They should be slightly golden on the edges, but gooey on the inside when they're ready to come out of the oven.

Enjoy!!

Gingerbread Biscotti

Ohhh, who doesn't love a good ol' dipping cookie for that festive cocoa or coffee? Me me! That's what biscotti's are for. I've never made them before, but these turned out wonderfully.

Ingredients

1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses or sorghum
3 eggs
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 heaping cup pecans, toasted and chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
9-10 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate, melted

Create 

Whisk or blend the butter and brown sugar until they are properly creamed together.

Beat in the molasses/sorghum, then the eggs (one at a time!).

In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients.

Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ones, and then fold in the ginger and pecans.

Divide the dough in half and place them on parchment paper covered baking sheet. Place that in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Set the oven at 350!

Then, take out the sheet, and form the dough into log-ish (3 x 10) shapes. Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden brown on top.

Take it out of the oven, and cut the logs up into biscotti-shaped slices. Place the slices on one side at a time, into the oven for about 5-7 minutes each side. This will crisp them up. Take them out and let them cool.

Melt that chocolate in the microwave, and dip the cooled biscotti in it! Let them dry in the open air for about an hour, and then you can store them away for the family or give them away as delicious gifts for the neighbors.

Enjoy!!

Swamp Bars

This is classic. Ya just can't go wrong with oats and chocolate...

Ingredients

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour*

3 cups quick cooking rolled oats

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate pieces

1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped

2 teaspoons vanilla

Mixey-Mix

Preheat oven to 350˚

Set aside 2 tablespoons of butter. In a large bowl beat remaining butter until fluffy. Add brown sugar and baking soda, beat until combined. Beat in eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat in flour and rolled oats, dough will be stiff.

For the filling, in a medium saucepan combine the reserved 2 tablespoons butter, chocolate, and condensed milk. Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate melts. Remove from heat, add vanilla and chopped nuts.

Press 2/3 of the rolled oats mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 15x10x1 inch baking pan.** Spread chocolate filling over the oat mixture. Dot the remaining rolled oats mixture on top.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until the top is lightly browned (the chocolate filling will still look moist). Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

Lemon-Cran-Thyme Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ya know those nights when you really just want to lick the excess cookie dough off of a spoon? That's what I was feeling. And voila! I've created my new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, though next time I make it, I'll make a few alterations to see if I can make it even better, but for now it's positively delightful.

Gather the Goods:

3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened
6 tablespoons white sugar
6 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt (heaping)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
handful chocolate chunks or chips
handful of dried cranberries
handful of rolled oats
zest of 1 lemon
small bowl of half of the lemon's juice
sprig of fresh thyme (minus the stem)

Make It:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugars, salt, lemon zest, thyme, and vanilla until well combined. Beat in the egg. Scrape down the bowl using a rubber spatula and beat for a few more seconds.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix on low speed just until absorbed.
4. Now it's safe to toss in some rolled oats, and then a bit of lemon juice, as long as you keep the consistency of the dough looking and feeling the same. Don't get too crazy!
5. Stir the chocolate chunks and dried fruit into the dough.
6.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are golden. Let sit for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!!