Maple Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Actually these are brown butter, candied maple bacon, chocolate chip cookies sweetened with maple syrup and chock full of toasted pecans, but it seemed a little wordy for the title. While the last chocolate chip cookies I made were light and fresh, these were anything but. These were sweet, nutty, salty, chocolatey, savory and just plain full of flavor.

First, I started out by candying thick strips of maple cured bacon by covering them in brown sugar, baked at 325 ° for 20 minutes. I also added about two thirds of a cup of chopped pecans to another pan and toasted them at the same time (approximately 12 minutes).

While the bacon was in the oven. I made the cookie dough, adapted from a recipe that uses maple syrup to sweeten the cookies because I really wanted to enhance the maple flavor from the bacon.

Maple Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

(adapted from Everybody Likes Sandwiches)

• 1/4 cup brown butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup high quality maple syrup
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup toasted pecans, chopped
• 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/3 lb candied maple cured bacon, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Cream together brown butter, sugar, and maple syrup in a large mixing bowl.
3. Add egg and vanilla and mix until fluffy.
4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Add to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until combines.
5. Stir in pecans, chocolate chips and bacon chunks.
6. Place on parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes or until the edges are slightly crisp.

This recipe made nearly two dozen large cookies for us that were devoured by us, our friends, and Dustin's co-workers within a 24-hour period. They were that good.