Maple Rum Cookies with Candied Bacon

These are going to blow your mind, they’re so amazing.

Candied Bacon

Ingredients:

3C real crumbled bacon bits
1/4C brown sugar
4tbs real maple syrup

  Preheat oven to 400°F.
  Spread crumbled bacon on a foil-lined baking sheet.
  Sprinkle brown sugar over the bacon.
  Drizzle maple syrup over the bacon.
  Mix together well to cover all bits with the sugary goodness, then spread in an even layer across the sheet.

  Bake for 5 minutes on middle rack.
  Broil at 500°F (staying on middle rack) until bacon is sizzling and the maple syrup/brown sugar is bubbling. Remove from oven and leave out to harden a bit. They end up crisp on the outside, soft on the inside.

You can use these in baked goods or as toppings on desserts like ice cream. For now, set them aside to use in these cookies:

Maple-Rum Cookies

Ingredients:

1cup softened salted butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs (NOTE: If you have an egg allergy, you can substitute applesauce here. For every egg a recipe calls for, I use 1/4C of applesauce instead.)
1 tsp pure maple syrup
2 tsp rum (the darker the better!)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

  Preheat oven to 350°F.
  In a large bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar and eggs (or applesauce if you’re subbing).
  Add in the rum and maple syrup.
  In a second bowl, mix all the dry stuff together.
  Mix the wet and the dry.
  When dough is fully mixed, roll into 1″ diameter balls and place on a non-stick cookie sheet about 1.5″ apart. When I usually make cookies, I make them slightly larger, but given the flavour of these ones, they’re best a little smaller.

Makin' Bacon (Jam)

  Press a pinch of candied bacon bits into the top of each dough ball prior to baking. This is really to taste, see the photo for the amount I pressed into each cookie.