So now that everyone has their lard rendered let’s make some shortbread.
Wait. What?! You haven’t rendered your lard yet?
I understand. Some people are less than thrilled to be fondling pig fat. If you haven’t gotten around to producing your own batch of the white gold then do yourself a favor – make some bacon.
Enjoy said bacon. Maybe even make some bacon caramels. Or a BLT since there is no better time to bite into a tomato so sweet it’s as if the sun itself has been feeding the ruby orbes spoonfuls of sugar.
But whatever you do do not throw out your bacon fat. Nothing goes to waste – especially not the salty, smoky and creamy drippings that come from cooking bacon. Use the fat to cook your eggs, butter your toast with it, grab and spoon and eat it – well, not really – that’s gross.
Make shortbread with it.
The other night I had a vision – covered in sugar. Inspiration for a new dessert hit and I listened then immediately set out to make my dreams a reality.
Before all my crazy lard rendering experiments I thought about the possibility of baking with bacon fat. I imagined the slightly salty and savory flavor would be an intriguing complement to caramel, maple, molasses and cream.
What manifested from that thought was a slight modification of David Lebovitz’s Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream and tender shortbread infused with bacon fat. A grown up ice cream sandwich.
And even though they are messier than my 1 year old at meal times the taste was as exciting as the dream that inspired its birth.
The bacon flavor was subtle – just enough to let you know something was unique about these cookies. Enough to make the complexity of the ice cream scream even louder and enough to calm the sweetness so that eating multiple ice cream sandwiches is highly possible.
On their own these cookies are fantastic. Yielding a tenderness only possible with ample fat.
The secret ingredient will have your tasters questioning your sanity but one bite later they’ll be eating their words – and all of your cookies so watch out for that.
In these penny pinching times do your part – don’t waste anything – including your bacon fat. Make cookies with it.
Bacon Fat Shortbread Cookies
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup bacon fat, room temperature (if you did render lard you can also use that – and good for you!)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. salt
3 egg yolks
2 tbl. vanilla extract
3 3/4 cup All-Purpose flour
*This recipe makes a LOT of cookies. Feel free to cut the recipe in half or wrap some of the dough very well and freeze. Should last at least 1 month.
In a medium bowl combine the butter, bacon fat, sugars and salt and cream until well blended or about 2 minutes. Add the egg yolks one at a time, making sure each yolk is well incorporated before moving on to the next. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour and mix until just combined.
Roll the dough into a log (or multiple logs as this makes a hefty amount of dough) on wax or parchment paper. Refrigerate until firm. If you plan to use the dough for ice cream sandwiches make sure the log is big enough to produce cookies large enough to hold plenty of ice cream. My cookies were about 3-4 inches wide.
When ready to bake pre-heat your oven to 325*. Carefully slice the cookies 1/4-inch thick. Arrange on a parchment lined sheet tray and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the edges are golden.
*If you can find some or have it on hand try replacing some of the sugar with Maple sugar. I’m sure it would be completely fantastic.
David Lebovitz’s Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream
* I added replaced half of the sugar with brown sugar in the ice cream custard.
* I added 2 tbl. Maple Syrup to the Caramel Praline mix-in.
This ice cream is incredibly rich. The best homemade ice cream I have ever made – and I’ve made more than one should be allowed in a lifetime.
The key to its rich and unique flavor is to get a deep dark color when carmelizing the sugar.
David Lebovitz is a sugar genius. His instructions and photos hold your hand every step of the way.
20 Comments
This sounds awesome! There is always bacon fat sitting around in my kitchen for eggs but this is something I must try! you’ve given me all sorts of ideas now!
I’ve never thought of using bacon fat for a sweet recipe – a savory one yes (sautee veg or brown meat). But then again, is there anything better than pancakes made in the pan you just cooked your bacon in?
When I was a kid, we used to save bacon fat and put it on our horses hooves because we thought it would ‘condition’ them. But then the dogs would come and lick it off their feet. Good think our horses liked our dogs, ’cause our dogs definitely liked the bacon fat.
I’m pretty sure the pork industry is loving you this week! The last picture is fabulous, love it!
I have family cookie recipe that calls for lard. My vegetarian friends are always surprised when I say they can’t have any. They’re like, “You mean to say that these cookies aren’t VEGAN.” And I respond, “Nope, they’re made with pig fat!”
I’ve been meaning to make this ice cream for a long time now. Now thinking of it combined with the cookies is making me drool on my keyboard! YUM.
Now I have an excuse to fry bacon and bake cookies? My man is going to love that I read your blog!
Using bacon fat in short bread sounds so decadent and good!
My husband loves bacon so next time he wants some (which will probably be sometime today) I’ll have to follow it up with this recipe. I don’t think I ever would have thought to use bacon fat. Thanks for the recipe!
this is genius. period.
I’ve used bacon fat for years now to grease the pan for many things, because it seems ’slipperier’ than oil or shortening, more like lard (who would’ve guessed! ; )
Seen the bacon cookie recipe elsewhere but haven’t tried it yet. Another one now, to put on my “try sometime” list.
I absolutely love your blog. The pictures are crisp and delicious.The writing captures my attention and leaves my imagination running. Everything seems to harmonize with each other, you’ve done a wonderful job. But I have to tell you, my stomach flipped when I thought of cookies made with bacon fat. I have probably eaten a ton of cookies in my life time that have been made with bacon fat (and who knows what else…), and the bacon caramels…. my first response is .ew. buuuut after reading the instructions, hearing how to render lard with less bacon taste or more depending on how long you cook it, makes so much sense. I buy lard (manteca) to make tamales with and I know they are in mexican cookies, and that stuff smells like bacon – well, now I know why. lol. Even this morning I made bacon (it’s seen in our house once or twice a year) and followed your pictures for draining the fat into a jar for later (I usually use a mug and put in bacon bits and all). I wanted to thank you for opening my eyes to cooking with real ingredients, it’s fallen by the way side since having twin girls – as grabbing food, quick food stuff (frozen, canned, etc), fast food, or take out has become the norm. We recently just moved our kitchen table back into the kitchen (it’s been under the bed for lack of room since babies were born) and there is so much more that’s going to be happening in there, partly thanks to you!
i imagine flakey doesn’t even come close to describing them. must try!
White gold! I love it!!! These look like cookie heaven. Delicious!
What? “…a slight modification of David Lebovitz’s Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream and tender shortbread infused with bacon fat. A grown up ice cream sandwich.” Oh, how could you do this to me? I’m have so much to do this afternoon and dinner is so far away and now I am soooooo hungry and desperately in need of this shortbread fantasy. Sigh…
I’m intrigued. I’ve always wanted to try baking with bacon fat but haven’t gotten around to it… I’ll have to do it now!
Just found your blog today via The Wednesday Chef and am loving it…another bookmarked blog, yay!
And, just had to say THANK YOU for a great use for my bacon drippings. I *hate* having to discard all that piggy goodness but have never known of a really good use…until now!
I came looking for something to do with the leftover bacon fat, and I found your great blog! I made the cookies (with added chopped hazelnuts) and they turned out very well.
Love the use of bacon fat here. I’ve always tended to use it towards more savory applications, e.g. pork belly confit, potatoes, etc. I’ve wondered about using it in baking, like in puff pastry dough or whatnot. These cookies are so innovative and absolutely brilliant.
Made these this past weekend with the bacon fat left over from making the bacon caramels. What a rich weekend!!!
I made sandwich cookies out of them with maple frosting in the middle. They were a hit and I can’t stop eating them.
I blame you for the fact that my pants no longer fit.
My boyfriend and I made these yesterday, and they were amaaaazing! We cut ours a bit thicker, and in wavy rectangles (so they looked like rashers of bacon) and piped melted chocolate along them. The bacon flavour is so subtle; they’re just salty enough to make you want to keep eating them, and the texture – perfect. I’ve had a jar of slowly accumulated bacon fat in our fridge for ages because I couldn’t bear to throw it away, and now I’m contemplating bacon menus so that we can make these cookies again!
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[...] the spirit of Ashley Rodriquez’ great post on bacon fat shortbread cookies here, ‘nothing goes to waste’ in the Kitchen at Camont. So with a bit of tweaking from [...]