Cook the Book: Bacon Fat Spice Cookies
These cookies need no introduction—their name says it all: bacon, fat, and spice. Yum. Jennifer McLagan, author of Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes, was "intrigued...by the idea of using bacon fat rather than butter" in an updated version of traditional Northern European spice cookies. The results are "like a glazed ham in cookie form."
For this recipe you will need a half cup of bacon fat. Start with a pound of bacon, and if after cooking it you don't have quite enough, make up the difference with a bit of lard. Alternatively, plan in advance and begin collecting your breakfast bacon fat in the freezer. Depending on how often you eat bacon, you should have enough for your cookies within a few weeks.
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Bacon Fat Spice Cookies
- makes 20 to 24 cookies -
Adapted from Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup bacon fat (from about 1 pound bacon)
2 tablespoons molasses
1 egg
Procedure
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Lin 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, the salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in a food processor and pulse to mix. Add the bacon fat, molasses, and egg and pulse until the mixture forms a soft dough.
3. Take level tablespoons of the dough and roll them into balls. Place the balls on prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Using a fork, flatten the balls slightly, and sprinkle them with the remaining tablespoon of sugar.
4. Bake the cookies until they are beginning to brown around the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool slightly on the baking sheets and then transfer to a wire rack.
5. Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
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5 Comments:
~ STOP THE MADNESS ~
worldcupfever at 2:10PM on 10/17/08
Since I eat jalapeno flavored bacon....I'll have to pass. Something about jalepeno spice cookies just sounds...vile.
peachfish at 5:15PM on 10/17/08
I made these yesterday and they were great. Brought them to a dinner party and all two dozen vanished by the end. If your bacon is on the smokier side, like mine was, I would definitely increase the amount of spices.
kathryn at 2:03PM on 10/20/08
are these cookies roll-out-able? I have a pig cookie cutter, and I'm getting ideas....
lavendersoda at 1:23PM on 12/07/08
No, they're on the gloppy side I've found.
kathryn at 9:30AM on 12/08/08