Sunday, January 18, 2009

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Bacon...delicious!! Chocolate Chip Cookies...delicious!! Why not combine them and make Bacon Chocolate Chip cookies? Last night we experimented with a recipe that Shaun heard about. He's been talking about these cookies for the last few months so we gave it a go. All the comments were positive so we thought it can't be all that bad. It's true, they weren't all that bad. I wouldn't sit down and eat a whole plate but one or two is do-able.

1 cup white chocolate chips, 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, 2 cups (yep that's 2lbs) bacon!!

Topped with a maple cinnamon glaze and a slab of the good stuff

Delicious, I think we could actually hear our arteries hardening as we ate!

For all you dying to try this recipe, here you go:

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies(12 servings)
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon hazelnut extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
2 1/2 C Flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups bacon bits (real bacon only - not bacos)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.Beat together the butter, sugars, flavouring and eggs until creamy. In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir together. Dough will be slightly soft. If you want a cakier cookie, add another half cup of flour. Add in chocolate chips and bacon bits. Stir until well integrated. Place dough on a sheet of waxed paper and refrigerate at least an hour. Remove dough from fridge, pinch off 1 1/2 inch pieces of dough and roll into balls. Set dough balls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten dough balls slightly with your fingers in the center.Bake cookies for about 10 minutes, or until the dough starts to turn golden brown. Allow cookies to cool on a cooling rack.

Note: it takes about 2lbs of bacon to make 2 cups of bacon bits, just for future reference. Just be sure to pat the bacon to remove all the extra grease.

I also like to top them with a Maple Cinnamon Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar,

1 tablespoon maple extract,

1 teaspoon vanilla extract,

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon,

enough water to make a thick glaze (I used about 3 tablespoons)

Mix all ingredients together until smooth and creamy. If lumpy, use a whisk. Spread a small amount of the glaze on the top of each cookie.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

New Year's at Grand Targhee

We spent New Year's at Grand Targhee with family and friends. We had a great time bringing in the New Year. This is Shaun's ideal family vacation.
Anna loved skiing on Shaun's back last year and has been constantly asking to ski since the first snow storm. So far only Alta has let him ski with her on his back. So we decided to try her out on her own ski's for the first time. She had fun; but, one run was enough for the first day. On the lift Shaun taught Anna to say "I'm a little ripper" and "I live for pow pow".

Dad and his little ski bunny

Yea Anna, you are officially a little ripper!