Aged cookie dough: awesome. Aged bacon cookie dough.. dangerous?
Ever since reading the NY Times article on the perfect chocolate chip cookie that recommended aging your cookie dough three days in the fridge (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/travel/10iht-09chip.14376338.html), my wife and I have made it a point to age our dough whenever possible.
This week, however, I'm planning on baking those maple-cinnamon-glazed bacon bacon chocolate chip cookies that made the rounds around the web a few months ago (http://www.joeydevilla.com/2007/12/09/bacon-chocolate-chip-cookies-with-maple-cinnamon-glaze/) for a work function. The dough contains little bits of crispy bacon mixed in to the dough before baking.
Now, if you've ever aged cookie dough in the fridge, you know how hard the dough can get. I imagine I'll have a hell of a time mixing in the bits of bacon after aging and I'll end up with cookies that are more akin to bacon pin cushins rather than having the bacon truly integrated into the dough.
So my question: do you think it's safe to mix the bacon in with the dough before aging? Will the bacon spoil while aging in the dough for three days? Are there any dangers of botulism? What would you guys do? I'd probably just take my chances if I were just making the cookies for myself, but since I'm serving them to other people -- at work, no less -- I'm a little more cautious. What would you guys do?
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7 Comments:
is the bacon cooked first?
derosa at 11:59AM on 07/14/09
sorry...should read more carefully....I would say if the bacon is crisp, then cooled then incorporated then refrigerated you would be fine. However, I am not a food scientist.
derosa at 12:01PM on 07/14/09
I actually made bacon chocolate chip cookies (without the glaze and the topping bacon) and I did age the dough for 2 days. I cooked the bacon and added the crispy bits in the dough.
Cookie dough already have raw eggs, which is more dangerous than cooked bacon.
Frankly I didn't like the texture of the bacon in the cookies and I felt like the bacon interfered with the taste of otherwise perfectly good cookies.
If you must, I suggest making candied bacon and just top cookies with the bacon.
hmw0029 at 12:06PM on 07/14/09
Though the bacon sounds gross in chocolate chip cookies, I really think health wise it is fine. Like hmw said there are raw eggs in there and nothing bad happens with them. I personally only chill my ccc dough for 24 hours and it takes just as amazing.
xwafflesx at 1:15PM on 07/14/09
Your bacon is cured with salt and nitrite preservatives. Unless it's already on it's last legs, it will be fine, cooked or not.
simon at 2:16PM on 07/14/09
the aging time recommended is 24 to 36 hours, which is a day to a day and a half, not three days.
cybercita at 2:28PM on 07/14/09
The curing process eliminates the possibility of botulism, and crispy fried bacon does not have enough water activity, free moisture to support bacterial growth. It may start to oxidize however.
Aging three days after adding the bacon may change the texture of the cookie dough and the bacon. the bacon may draw moisture out of the dough making the bacon soggy again, or causing the texture of the cookie to shorten more and become fragile.
Meat guy at 11:43AM on 07/15/09