sweet + salty (a love story)

"paired sweet and salty flavors is why we love kettle corn, chocolate-covered pretzels and snickers bars. from that perspective, chocolate-covered bacon and bacon cupcakes suddenly seem, well, right."

that is a quote from this article from npr's kitchen window. bacon in a cookie? or in a brownie? or on a scoop of creamy caramel ice cream?

droooooool. oops, sorry!

the addition of something a little salty and savory to something sweet complements that dish in a way that nothing else will and heightens the way the sweet flavor hits your taste buds. when i see a sweet n' salty dessert on the menu, thats generally the one that i'm all over.

cupcakes with maple buttercream and bacon dust on top, caramel tarts sprinkled with fleur de sel, secret breakfast ice cream (bourbon and corn flakes) at humphrey slocombe in san francisco.

btw...this recipe from joy the baker is next up on the agenda, peanut butter cookies with bacon? ummm, yes please! 

there's that darn drool again!

for these little morsels i used my favorite basic and dependable chocolate chip cookie recipe and just added 4 slices of cooked and crumbled bacon.

eggs and butter (always room temperature), sugars, homemade vanilla extract (vodka + a vanilla bean). whisk.

flour, salt, baking soda. mix. add dry to wet. add chocolate chips.

gently mix in little salty, crunchy bits of porky heaven. i mean, crumbled bacon.

that spoonful there didn't make it to the baking sheet, but it did make it into my mouth.

chocolate chip and bacon cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temp

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, room temp

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) chocolate chips. i like ghiradelli 60% cacao chips

5 slices bacon, cooked + crumbled (maybe cook 6 pieces...the cook needs at least one!)

preheat oven to 375° F.

combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. gradually beat in flour mixture. stir in morsels and bacon. drop by rounded tablespoon onto un greased baking sheets.

bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.