Pleasant House

Butter is the base of these cookies, but since lard lends many pastries their rich flavor, it doesn’t seem entirely unordinary to have a pork product in a cookie. In this form it’s just a nice surprise. Use good, high-fat butter and thick-cut bacon (use restraint), and watch these carefully as they bake. They can go from perfectly golden to too dark (and thus, bitter) in a matter of seconds.

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter

2 Tablespoons heavy cream

1 Tablespoon bourbon

3/4 cup pecans, very finely ground 

1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour 

1/2 cup granulated sugar (less 1 Tablespoon, substituted with turbinado sugar)

2 Tablespoons thick-cut bacon, trimmed of all fat and finely diced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silpat. In a saucepan, combine the butter, cream, and bourbon over low heat. In a small bowl, combine the ground pecans, flour, and sugars. Once the butter is melted, add in the dry ingredients all at once. Cook until gently bubbling. Stir in bacon. Remove saucepan from heat, but keep warm.

Drop small spoonfuls of the batter onto the lined sheet pan, leaving at least two inches between each cookie (more for larger cookies) as cookies will spread. Bake on a center rack for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown. Remove cookies from oven and cool on sheet pan slightly until cookies can be lifted off the pan and hold their shape but are malleable. Cool cookies on a cookie rack, or mold into desired shape and cool until set. Delicious with bourbon-molasses swirl ice cream.