If you love salty-sweet combos, these are the cookies for you. These Bacon Grease Chocolate Chip Cookies with Bourbon and Pecans aren't your childhood chocolate chip cookies.
Yes, you read that correctly, bacon fat, bourbon, and pecans.
One of my grandma's most frugal kitchen tips was to save your bacon grease. Saved bacon grease is great for roasting a variety of vegetables or greasing a skillet before cooking these Strawberry Oatmeal Pancakes.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- If you love salty-sweet combos, these are the cookies for you. The combination of sweet chocolate chips and the savory bacon grease creates a well-balanced flavor.
- Cookies are a great make-ahead dessert. Mix up the dough, roll it into balls, and freeze. The next time you are craving a freshly baked cookie, thaw some dough, bake, and enjoy.
- These Bacon Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies are a great way to use an ingredient you might normally throw away. Making them a great frugal option.
Looking for more chocolate chip cookie recipes? Here are a few of my favorites: Condensed Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies, Salted Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies with Caramel, Amaretto Chocolate Chip Cookies, Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Peanut Butter Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Recipe Ingredients
You will need the following ingredients to make these Bacon Grease Chocolate Chip Cookies with Bourbon and Pecans.
Bread Flour: Bread flour produces more gluten creating a chewy cookie. For accuracy, the best way to measure the flour is by using a digital kitchen scale.
Tip: If you don't have a digital scale, spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it with the back of a butter knife. Try not to compress the flour into the measuring cup. Too much flour creates dense cookies.
Salt: I add at least a pinch of salt to all of my recipes. Salt complements and intensifies the other flavors. For all of my recipes, I use Morton Kosher Salt which packs more densely than Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt. If you are using Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt you will want to double the amount of salt you add.
Butter: Room temperature butter is easier to cream together with the sugar. I use unsalted butter. If you only have salted butter you will need to omit the salt in the recipe. There is about ¼ teaspoon of salt per stick of salted butter.
Bacon Fat: Bacon fat melts more quickly than butter be sure to leave plenty of space between the cookies. Room-temperature bacon fat is also easier to blend with the sugar.
Tip: If you don’t have any saved bacon fat, you will need to fry about one pound of bacon to get ½ cup of bacon fat. Pour it into a glass jar and let it chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour or two to harden.
Brown Sugar & Granulated Sugar: Using more brown sugar than white sugar adds moisture and helps to produce a soft and chewy cookie.
Egg and Egg Yolk: Eggs should be at room temperature. The fat from the additional egg yolk adds richness and helps bind the dough.
Bourbon: These cookies do not taste alcoholic, most of the alcohol cooks out while baking. Use whatever bourbon you have on hand—no need to go out and buy an expensive bottle of bourbon.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions and Variations
- For a sweeter cookie, use milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet chocolate chips.
- If you don't have pecans, substitute another type of nut. Walnuts would also be delicious.
- If you are out of bourbon, any dark liquor will probably taste good. My second choice would be whiskey or rum.
Step by Step Directions
Step 1: In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
Step 2: In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the butter, bacon fat, and sugars with the paddle attachment on medium speed until smooth.
Step 3: Lower the mixer speed to stir and add in the egg, egg yolk, bourbon, and vanilla. Mix until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds.
Step 4: Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.
Step 5: Fold in the chocolate chips and pecans with a spatula. Wrap the dough in wax paper and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
Step 6: Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it into balls, about 2 tablespoons of dough each. The dough may be a bit crumbly but will become smoother as you roll it.
Place the balls on a baking sheet leaving at least 2 inches in between each cookie. Flatten the balls slightly with your hand to help them spread.
Tip: To quickly portion out the dough use a knife to cut the chilled dough into smaller pieces.
Step 7: Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Allow the cookies to cool for at least 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Tip: For crispier cookies increase the bake time by 2-3 minutes.
Tip: Want perfectly round cookies? Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven grab a round cookie or biscuit cutter and place it around one of the cookies. Move the cookie cutter in a circular motion to gently round the cookie before it sets completly. Check out my cookie shaping video on Instagram if you have questions.
Make-Ahead, Storage, and Freezing Instructions
Make-Ahead: You can mix up the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Chilling cookie dough keeps it from spreading too much as it bakes by hydrating the flour and solidifying the butter.
Chilling the dough is especially important when you bake cookies made with browned butter like these Sourdough Snickerdoodles.
Storing: Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Freezing Cookie Dough: Unbaked cookie dough balls can be frozen for up to 3 months. I always have a batch of Condensed Milk Chocolate Chip Cookie dough in my freezer for when a cookie craving strikes.
Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until solid. Once frozen, remove from the baking sheet and place in a zip-top bag. Label with the date and contents.
When you are ready to bake cookies, remove the cookie balls from the freezer, let them sit at room temperature while the oven preheats, and then bake. You may need to add a minute or two to the baking time.
Freezing Baked Cookies: Baked cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Once the cookies have cooled completely, place them on a sheet pan and freeze until solid. Transfer the frozen cookies to an airtight container or zip-top bag. Label with the date and contents.
Thaw frozen cookies overnight in the refrigerator or on the counter.
Recipe FAQs
My favorite way to cook bacon is on a foil-lined sheet pan in a 425°F (220°C) oven for 10-15 minutes. It is so simple and lining your pan with foil makes the process virtually mess-free. The foil also forms a convenient spout to pour the bacon grease into my mason jar.
No. Food safety experts no longer recommend storing bacon grease at room temperature. Instead, store it in the refrigerator or freezer.
My favorite way to store bacon grease is in the refrigerator. Filter the bacon bits out and pour the grease into a glass mason, it will keep for up to six months in the refrigerator.
For even longer storage, store bacon grease in the freezer. Pour strained and cooled bacon grease into an ice cube tray. Once frozen remove the cubes from the tray and place them in an airtight container labeled with the date and contents. Bacon grease can be frozen for up to a year.
Surprisingly no. As long as you are filtering the little bacon pieces out of your bacon grease these cookies don't have a porky flavor. If you used smoked bacon you may be able to detect a subtle smokey flavor.
Bacon adds so much delicious flavor to a variety of recipes. A few you may want to try include this Maple Bacon Onion Jam, this Bacon Wrapped Smoke Meatloaf, or this Cream Bacon Leek and Potato Soup.
Expert Tips
- Make sure all of the ingredients are at room temperature. This ensures the ingredients mix evenly and will give you the best final texture. To quickly bring the eggs to room temperature, place the whole eggs in a bowl of warm water for 10-15 minutes.
- You can use either regular chocolate chips or chopped semi-sweet chocolate.
- Refrigerate the dough for 2-3 hours to allow the flour to fully hydrate. Refrigerating the dough also allows the butter to solidify and stops your cookies from spreading too far when baked.
- Use a cookie scoop for evenly portioned cookies. Take the guesswork out of portioning cookies by using a cookie scoop to make sure each cookie is the same size.
- Alternatively, you could cut the block of cookie dough into even pieces with a knife.
- Baking times for all recipes are only suggestions. The actual baking time will vary depending on your oven. It is helpful to know your oven and worth purchasing an inexpensive oven thermometer. Oven temperatures can vary as much as 50 degrees plus or minus.
Read my post on How to Fix Dry Crumbly Cookie Dough for even more cookie tips.
Comment below and tell me your favorite cookie recipe.
More Chewy Cookie Recipes
Thanks for Reading!
If you try this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment and rate it below! You can also snap a picture and post it on Facebook or Instagram be sure to tag me @RaspberriesandKohlrabi.
📖 Recipe
Bacon Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups bread flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ cup bacon fat room temperature
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated white sugar
- 1 egg - room temperature room temperature
- 1 egg yolk
- 3 tablespoons bourbon
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- In a medium bowl whisk together the 2 ½ cups bread flour, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and 1 teaspoon baking soda. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, ½ cup bacon fat, ¾ cup brown sugar and ¼ cup granulated white sugar with the paddle attachment on medium speed until smooth.
- Lower the mixer speed to stir and add in the 1 egg - room temperature, 1 egg yolk, 3 tablespoons bourbon, and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.
- Fold in the 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and ½ cup chopped pecanswith a rubber spatula.
- Wrap the dough in wax paper and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll the it into balls, about 2 tablespoons of dough each. The dough may be a bit crumbly but will become smoother as you roll it.
- Place the balls on a baking sheet leaving at least 2 inches in between each cookie. Flatten the balls slightly with your hand to help them spread.
- Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Allow the cookies to cool for at least 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Desirae says
What can we use in place of Bourbon? We never have that in the house.
Erica says
You could also use whiskey or for a nonalcoholic option use additional vanilla extract.
YtheWait says
Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Erica @ Raspberries and Kohlrabi says
Yay!!!!!!! So happy you liked them.
Danielle says
Haven't made them yet, but they sound amazing! Just curious why the recipe calls for bread flour vs all-purpose flour?
Erica says
Bread flour has a higher protein content which creates a chewier cookie.
Jason says
My family loved these cookies, the only change I made was refrigerating the dough to firm it up. These are a new fave in my house, thanks for posting!
Erica @ Raspberries and Kohlrabi says
I am so glad to hear you liked them!