Toffee & Dark Chocolate Chunk Bacon Fat Cookies
A cookie for my fellow savoury sweet lovers. These cookies are made using brown butter and rendered bacon fat. I’m big on no food waste so for any households that go through a fair bit of bacon, this could be the answer for all that leftover bacon fat. I’ve packed the cookie dough full of toffee shards, dark chocolate chunks and finely diced crispy bacon. The result is a chewy cookie with a crispy edge and pools of rich chocolate and butterscotch toffee. Each bite is different - some full of melty dark chocolate and sea salt, while the next may be crunchy toffee and salty savoury bacon. If you want to try using bacon fat in your cookie dough but adding in bacon is a bit too far, just omit it. You’ll still have a really great cookie. I’ve kept these in my freezer so I can have a sweet-salty fix whenever my heart desires.
Ingredients - makes 12
Notes: for the bacon fat, I got 35g from cooking 2 packets of 14 streaky bacon rashers in the oven and draining off the rendered fat.
Toffee Bark:
115g unsalted butter
150g soft light brown sugar
1/2 tsp flaky salt
Cookie Dough:
35g bacon fat, room temperature
130g unsalted butter, (105g after browning)
230g soft light brown sugar
50g caster sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla paste
220g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp flaky salt
125g dark chocolate, chopped
110g chopped toffee shards, from above
40g crispy bacon, very finely diced (optional)
Method:
Start by making the toffee bark:
Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper or a silicone baking mat. Place all the ingredients into a saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, stir continuously until it becomes a butterscotch colour. It will first become foamy and bubble up, then it will become more liquid when it reaches that amber colour. Carefully pour the toffee onto the prepared baking tray and leave to cool. Once completely cool, break off 110g and chop it into chunks for the cookie dough. Break the remaining bark into larger chunks to top the cookies once baked.
For the cookie dough, start by browning the butter. Place the butter into a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk it occasionally until it becomes foamy, smells nutty and little flecks of browned butter start to appear. Pour the brown butter into a bowl, scraping all those lovely browned milk solids off the bottom of the pan, and leave to cool at room temperature.
Cream the brown butter, bacon fat, sugars and vanilla paste until combined. Mix in the egg and egg yolk before sifting in the plain flour, baking soda and salt. Just before all of the dry ingredients have been mixed in, add in the chopped toffee, chopped chocolate and bacon bits. Mix the cookie dough until everything has been combined and the mix-ins are evenly distributed. Scoop the dough into 12 balls and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days. These can also be frozen at this point.
When you’re ready to bake, pre-heat the oven to 160°C. Place the cookies onto lined baking trays, a few inches apart to allow for spreading. Bake for 10 minutes, rotate the trays and bake for 3-4 more minutes. These bake pretty round but if you want them perfectly round, use a bowl or large circle cutter to scoop them into shape while still hot. Top with flaky salt & chunks of toffee while they’re still hot. Leave to cool before eating. These can be kept for up to 5 days in an air-tight container.