Peanut Butter & Candied Bacon Cookies!

You know...everyone's putting bacon in their sweets nowadays! This past weekend, I took the plunge. I had read that Monday was not only National Pig Day, but National Peanut Butter Lover's Day as well...so, the idea for the cookies was born! I'd recently heard about candied bacon (I guess they call it 'pig candy' in the south?!), so I wanted to try that and then add it into my fave PB cookies. The results were dang good - but you DO tend to think....'do I really need bacon in my peanut butter cookie?' For me, although tasty, the answer is 'no'. It's just....well...kind of unnecessary! Fun - but unnecessary. I DO encourage you to try these at least once...I mean...peanut butter, bacon, brown sugar, maple.... Nothing wrong there ;-)

I first candied the bacon by laying 10 slices of thick-cut bacon on a rack on a sheet pan.

I baked it for about 10 to 15 minutes at 400-degrees until it was about 1/3 'done'.

I then brushed the bacon with maple syrup.....

....just a nice even coating.....

..then each slice got a sprinkle of brown sugar! I LOVE brown sugar! After the bacon 'got the goods', I baked it for another 15 minutes or so. I watched it carefully to make sure it didn't burn but I wanted to make sure the bacon was done and wasn't floppy.

Look at this! It's like bacon jewelry! SO pretty! And yuuuuummmy!

Once the bacon was completely cool, I gave ot a chop. Not too small, not too big.

I whipped up my fave peanut butter cookie dough.......

....then folded in the bacon pieces.

I rolled 'smaller-than-a-walnut-sized' balls of dough and put them on parchment-lined baking sheets, and flattened each in the traditional criss-cross fashion with a fork.

All ready for the oven!

9 minutes on the dot and they were done to perfection. Slightly crisp on the edges, chewy in the middle.

They were really good -not over-powering bacon flavor, but the bacon flavor that was there was nicely complimented by it's candy coating.

So - all in all, a good cookie :-) Really glad I made them 'cuz ya gotta do a trendy thing now and then, eh?! This trend for me though - was a one-timer. Nice to have met you, peanut butter bacon cookie!

Peanut Butter & Candied Bacon Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup butter (or ½ cup shortening & ½ cup butter)
2 eggs
2 ½ cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat over to 375 degrees. Mix sugars, peanut butter, butter/shortening and eggs until well combined. Add in dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Stir in chopped, candied bacon. Place just-smaller-than-walnut-sized balls on dough onto parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 8 to 9 minutes. Remove to cooling racks.



Candied Bacon
Lay 10 strips of thick-cut bacon on a rack placed on a jellyroll pan. Bake for 10 minutes in 400-degree oven, then brush with maple syrup and sprinkle with brown sugar. Return to oven for another 15 to 20 minutes, watching to make sure it doesn’t burn. Remove pan from oven and allow to cool completely. Chop into small pieces and fold into peanut butter cookie dough...