Banana Walnut and Caramelized Bacon Cookie
Why I Love This Recipe
David Lebovitz made a Candied Bacon Ice Cream that I thought sounded really interesting -- except, I said to myself, shouldn't that caramelized bacon really be in a cookie? First thing I had to do was find the right cookie. Clearly, a banana cookie was the obvious choice. I would have thrown in some peanut butter if I thought I could do it without losing the delicious banana flavor. I threw in walnuts instead.
Ingredients You'll Need
1 to 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 tablespoons butter, very soft
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, divided
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (1 medium)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups toasted oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 to 1/2 cup light brown sugar
6 slices thick cut bacon
Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F.
On a broiler pan (because you really want them to drain well), lay out slices of bacon. Coat liberally one side of each slice of bacon with a tablespoon or so of light brown sugar. Bake for about 10-12 minutes on one side, flip the bacon (carefully) and rub it around in the melted sugar. Bake another 10-12 minutes until crispy but not burnt.
Allow bacon to cool. I found that I needed to chop the bacon up and then bake an additional 5 minutes to get the crispiness I wanted.
Turn down the oven to 350°F.
In the meantime, beat together mashed banana, butter, sugars, egg and vanilla extract until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk together 1 cup of the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Combine with wet ingredients. Add the oats and the walnuts, and mix together. If dough seems too loose, add 1/4 cup flour. The flour will absorb some of the liquid while you're waiting for the bacon to cool so don't worry too much. Holding back the 1/4 cup flour will make them crispier.
Mix the cooled and chopped bacon into the rest of the cookie dough. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop by ice cream scoop onto parchment paper and squish cookies lightly with your hand (will be very sticky). Makes 9-12 giant cookies.
Bake for 20-22 minutes, watch so that they don't overcook, or until golden brown and delicious.
