Bacon seems to be all the rage these days, bacon ice cream, candied bacon, and the altogether funny, big bowl of bacon with a lettuce leaf in the middle, "look I made a salad" of Face Book fame. I always get a chuckle out of that one. I thought I would get on the band wagon myself when I found these wonderful looking Bacon Fat Gingersnaps over at Leite's Culinaria
These crunchy, spicy and slightly smoky little cookies are a true delight! They are quick and easy to put together but you do have to have a supply of bacon drippings on hand. I've been saving bacon drippings for two weeks, waiting to get just the right amount in my measuring cup. It didn't help that the bacon I buy is quite lean, so rendering fat from that bacon was a lengthy process. I hope you'll give them a try!
Ingredients
3/4 cup bacon drippings (from 1 1/2 -2 pounds of bacon) at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses (not Blackstrap)
1 large egg
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
extra sugar for rolling the cookie dough in.
Rendering that bacon Fat!
1. Sift flour, salt, baking soda, ginger, allspice, and cinnamon together in a mixing bowl. Add bacon drippings, granulated sugar, brown sugar, molasses and egg. Mix together until a stiff dough forms. Gather together into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours up to two days.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper. In a small bowl, pour in about a 1/2 cup of granulated sugar. With a small scoop or a tablespoon scoop out dough and form into balls. Roll the dough balls in the sugar and place them on the parchment lined pans about 2" apart.
3. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan slightly, then transfer to a wire rack.
