There are days when you feel like baking, but you don’t feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen. You know those days… when you want a home-baked dessert, but you don’t want to put a ton of effort into it? Or how about when you’re craving different types of baked goods. Like, when you want chocolate chip cookies AND brownies. You know, days when you are just the epitome of indecision.
I recently experienced one of these moments in the kitchen. I wanted brownies, I wanted cookies, I wanted them fast and I wanted them with bacon. A bit of experimentation resulted in this super quick-and-easy recipe to have on-hand when you’re feeling the same. The result was a rich and delicious brownie-bacon-cookie that quickly satisfied all of my cravings.
Don’t be concerned about the cookies or brownies over-baking… The grease from the bacon will leak into the brownie batter and the batter will take longer to bake than it would on its own. This will also infuse the brownies with lots of bacon flavor and make them extra-moist and bacon-y good. The combination of sweet cookie, savory bacon and rich indulgent brownie is phenomenal. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzle with chocolate syrup. You’ve conquered your cravings; you’ve done it pretty darn quick and with a minimum amount of effort.
If you like, you can infuse even more bacon flavor into these by substituting bacon grease for some of the oil that goes into the brownie mix.
Ingredients:
1 large tube of your favorite pre-made chocolate chip cookie dough
1 box of your favorite brownie mix
1 pound of bacon. I used Smokey’s Savory Select Maplewood.
Directions:
1. Lie bacon strips on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake until cooked, but not crispy, then transfer strips to a paper-towel lined plate. Allow to cool then chop into chunks.
2. Butter a 9” x 13” glass casserole dish. Mix brownies according to package instructions. May substitute bacon grease for part of the oil. Add cooked bacon pieces to batter, then pour into dish.
3. Sprinkle cooked bacon pieces on top of brownies.
4. Remove cookie dough from packaging and place in a empty dish. Microwave the cookie dough “cylinder” for 20-30 seconds until soft and pliable.
5. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough onto the brownie batter. Don’t worry about leaving holes between the cookies, they will spread out as they cook.
6. Put in oven and bake for 30-40 minutes or until brownies are fully cooked and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
7. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream and a drizzle of chocolate or caramel syrup. Enjoy!
