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| Putzing about in the kitchen is really relaxing! |
Ack what a week! Rush rush rush and it was filled with seemingly endless deadlines and prep. Then to top it off, last night on the way to dinner, my boyfriend Rob got some bad news. His mood was down and he was upset for the rest of the night. So I woke up this morning and decided, "I know how to help him out..." and frankly help myself too. I headed to the kitchen to blow off some steam and to relax with some baking. Cookie bars could do the trick...Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie bars, to be exact. I love the salty-sweet flavor, and nothing is more comforting than that creamy, melty chocolate while they're still warm. BUT...and it's a big one...Rob is allergic to tree nuts, so the nut addition in the recipe was out. I heard of some folks adding bacon to the recipe and I thought that might be a great replacement to the crunch and richness of the nuts. Luckily I had some chilled bacon grease handy and I saved a few slices of bacon from breakfast to add to the batter.
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A few of the ingredients needed to change
the trajectory of the weekend. |
Follow the recipe
here to make these delicious cookie bars. To make the bacon version, I suggest replacing 2 Tbsp of the softened butter with 2 Tbsp of chilled bacon grease. Bacon grease is soft generally even when chilled in the fridge; just don't use liquid bacon grease as it won't mix the same way. Replace the nuts with the same amount of real cooked bacon bits. To do this, simply cook the slices as you normally would (I prefer to cook them in the oven on a cooling rack on top of a jelly roll pan at 400 degrees), then dice them into small bits with a sharp knife.
Baking something for someone else really has a two-fold effect, and we both felt better from this small gift. Now I have a happier boyfriend, and my weekend is saved.
And dang, these cookie bars are good! The salty meatiness of the bacon mixes well with the chocolate, and the chewiness of the meat is a nice surprise.
