Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies with Bacon Grease

This is a review of this recipe found at the Homesick Texan.  I first found this blog when I was trying to find out how to render lard.  Thankfully, I have a brother-in-law (or sometimes nephew) who brings me lard from here.  Anyway, back to bacon grease cookies.   

Okay, right off the bat, there is no bacon flavor.  They don't taste as good as all-butter cookies.  What you get from the bacon grease is structure.  Big, puffy cookies.  So I'm wondering if maybe a 1/3 cup bacon grease and 2/3 cup butter might be a good idea--still pretty puffy, but more butter flavor.

Now let's move on to the cayenne.  I don't taste it while eating the cookies, but the warmth remains with you for a long time after finishing the cookie.  And that has an interesting effect.  You don't want to eat lots of cookies.  I could have stopped at one.  Of course, I had to try one with pecans.  So between the satiety that come from consuming bacon grease, and the satisfying warmth that comes from the cayenne, it's a pretty sure bet you're not going to eat the whole batch in one sitting.  So maybe that's not what you even want from a cookie--come on, admit it, there is a certain pleasure from wanting and devouring a bunch of cookies.  And I defy anyone to do that with these.  But if you want everyone to go "Yay!  Cookies!" and then watch as everyone is happy and satisfied with only one or two--hey, you've got yourself a cookie.

Here's the recipe with my comments:

Chocolate chip pecan cookies...with bacon grease 
Ingredients:
1/2 cup bacon grease
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup buttermilk*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (I can't decide if I think this is a little too much.)
1 cup roasted chopped pecans **, and see Variation
2 cups chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a cookie sheet. (I like to use parchment paper.  I like puffy cookies and parchment paper seems to help.)

Cream together the bacon grease, butter, sugar. Add the egg, buttermilk and vanilla and beat until fluffy.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and cayenne and add to butter, sugar and egg mixture. Beat until well incorporated and then stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. 


Roll dough into walnut-sized balls (use this instead), place on parchment-sheet lined cookie sheets (Wait, I thought you were supposed to grease the cookie sheet--yes, it says to do that right up there!  See, I told you parchment was better.) and bake for 17 minutes. (11 minutes tops, I can never figure out why some of these cookie recipes take so long--is it elevation or something?)

Yield: about 40 cookies (With my scoop I got over 50.)

Variation: You can swap out the pecans for 1/2 cup peanut butter (I did this, but after baking half the batter, I stirred in some pecans too.). Also, if you want a flatter cookie (Who wants that?  Oh, that's right, my husband likes flatter cookies.), press down on the dough ball with a fork before baking.

*I didn't have any buttermilk, so my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook suggests this as a replacement for 1 cup of buttermilk:  "1 Tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar plus enough whole milk to make 1 cup (let stand 5 minutes before using) or 1 cup whole milk plus 1 3/4 teaspoons cream of tartar or 1 cup plain yogurt."  I didn't even have whole milk (which I usually do), so I just used Mat's lactose free 2% milk with a little squeeze of lemon juice--letting it sit 5 minutes.

**I didn't notice the roasted part and just used bagged pecans.  Roasting makes pecans taste better, but I think it's debatable whether or not you notice it in cookies, which makes one question whether or not it's worth the trouble.