Caramel Maple Bacon Cookies

This week, I made about a hundred trillion baby shower cookies. It is definitely the season for babies!

Instead of sharing those today, though, I played around and made something that has been on my mind.

A few months ago I ran to Whole Foods to pick up a few things and they were having a sale on their flavorings and extracts. I bought a few, including maple extract, with no idea what I would use them for. I can’t believe it took me this long to figure out how to use it!

So, these cookies take a little prep work. A few hours before you plan to bake them, you’ll need to make some bacon, using the bacon making method of your choice. Just make it crispy. I bake mine at 400F for 12 minutes or so. Then you’ll need to brown 1.5 sticks of butter. Do this by melting the butter in a sauce pan. Once it’s melted keep stirring it until it turns brown and smells delicious. Then pour it into a bowl and put it back into the refrigerator until it becomes solid again. Third, make some caramel sauce. I used this recipe by Pioneer Woman, you can use any recipe you like or you can use a store-bought jar. Finally, while your bacon is cooling, your butter is hardening, and your caramel is chilling, make yourself a spinach and egg white omelet and squeeze in an hour on the elliptical. Or referee 10 rounds of “I don’t WANT to watch Willy Wonka again, MOM why do we always watch what HE wants to watch???!!!!”

Once your butter is hardened (but still soft, do you know what I mean?) gather the rest of your ingredients.

• 1.5 sticks unsalted butter (browned)
• 6 Tbsp sugar
• 6 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1 tsp maple extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• a pinch of salt (optional- the bacon will make the cookie salty)
• 1.5 cups flour
• 8 slices of crispy bacon chopped into small pieces
• caramel sauce for drizzling

1. Preheat oven to 325F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper
2. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat together the butter and the two sugars until fluffy
3. add  egg, vanilla, and maple extract. Mix well.
4. Add baking soda, salt, and flour and mix until incorporated.
5. Fold in the bacon
6. Bake for about 18 minutes or until lightly browned
7. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
8. Heat caramel sauce in a small bowl in 15 second increments until it is pourable. Drizzle the sauce over the cookies.

Making the caramel was tricky for me. I’m not sure what happened to the first batch but it was grainy and all wrong. I threw that batch out and made another one. This one worked perfectly, only I think I let it go for too long, as it was a little harder than a sauce. It was a little tough to drizzle, but it was perfect for sandwiching between two cookies.

Either way you make them, you could probably serve them with a cup of coffee and a spinach and egg white omelet and call them breakfast!

I’ll be linking these to Simply Sweet Saturdays at Simply Sweets by Honeybee.