Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's Vancouver so it's obviously raining and I've caught that nasty cold that's been going around.  Normally, none of those problems above would deter me from going around eating everything everyone has to offer but the most terrible thing has happened to this Piglet.  I've lost my sense of taste.  It was there last night but I woke up this morning and had a cup of tea that tasted like warm water.  Stupid cold!  As such, there's no point in going out to eat so I'm gonna hunker down, eat lots of vitamin rich healthy food (bah...) and take this opportunity to bake bake bake and bake some more!  So you little Piggy readers are going to benefit.  And benefit you are because I've just mixed two of the best ingredients on the planet into one cookie - bacon and chocolate.  I know.  I'm awesome.  Enjoy!!

Tools needed:

• Stand mixer or electric mixer and a large bowl
• Medium bowl
• Sifter
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Spatula
• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper or silicon baking sheet

Ingredients:

• 1 cup and 2 tbsp of all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup and 1 tbsp of sugar (in an effort to stay away from refined white sugar, I used 1/4 cane sugar instead)
• 1/4 cup and 1 tsp of packed brown sugar (I used 1/4 cup of cane sugar as a substitute here as well)
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract (use the real stuff and not the simulated stuff)
• 1 egg (I used a large sized egg)
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 6 pieces of bacon, cooked and chopped into small pieces (refer to this recipe on how to bake bacon)

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 375 F.  Cover cookie sheets with parchment paper.  I use a baking silicone sheet which is awesome - you can wash it, put it away and use it again.


2.  Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.


3.  In a stand mixer or large bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy (it will turn a light beige color and looks lighter)


4.  Add the sugars to the butter and beat again on med-high to high for 4 minutes.


5.  Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat again for 4 minutes.

6.  Mix in the dry ingredients until just incorporated - no more flour visible and then stop to avoid overmixing

7.  Fold in chocolate chips and bacon

8.  Place big tablespoonfuls of dough balls onto the parchment/silicon-lined cookie sheet and bake for 10-13 minutes or until the edges are golden brown

9.  Remove from oven and let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for two minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to completely cool.  If you have the silicon sheet, just transfer the whole sheet to the cooling rack to cool.  This recipe made 12 larger cookies for me. 

10.  Eat and enjoy!

(Recipe adapted from Your Cup of Cake)