Bacon Fat Gingersnaps
Medically reviewed by Christiana George Updated Date: June 8, 2023
We’re going back to California tomorrow (or today rather, as I write these posts the night before) for the holidays and we’ll be gone an entire two-and-a-half weeks! There’s still so much to do, so I’m keeping this post short. And then I must return to packing and meeting last-minute work deadlines and cleaning out the fridge (urgh).
After that, I foresee freeeeedom and warm-ish weather and long drives down the 1. We’re putting up the tree with my family, seeing friends, and hitting up all our old haunts. One of these days, I will write a long ode to California, but for now, I’m leaving you with a recipe for bacon fat gingersnaps.
I’m guessing you can tell why these cookies are special. Yup! They’re made with bacon fat. While the idea is that you’ve been collecting bacon drippings all along, saving it in a little bowl so you can re-use it for other recipes (something I vividly remember my mom doing when I was younger), I had to go out and buy a pound-and-a-half of bacon especially for this recipe, and then spent the better part of an hour frying it up. Later that night, and for days after, we reheated the strips and used them for sandwiches and omelettes and other such delights. These foods all benefit from bacon, I’m sure you would agree, so it wasn’t too much trouble for me.
The cookies themselves taste smoky and exotic, hardly like bacon, although you can tell there’s something in there that contributes an inexplicable… savoriness? Huskiness? I’m definitely not a slap-bacon-on-it-and-call-it-a-day kind of gal, by the way. But I do like my ginger-flavored sweets, and I love the softness of these cookies. (which begs the question: are they technically gingersnaps then? Aren’t gingersnaps supposed to be, I dunno, snappy?)
I also love the origin of this recipe, which comes from Cathy Horyn, the renowned New York Times FASHION editor who got the recipe from her mother. Yes! So I suppose this recipe is an old-new take on a classic gingersnap recipe that is perfect for the holidays.
BACON FAT GINGERSNAPS
Adapted from Leite’s Culinaria
Makes 3 dozen or so
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup bacon drippings (from 1 1/2 to 2 pounds bacon), at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus more for the work surface
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup molasses (not blackstrap) or cane syrup
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together until a smooth, stiff dough forms. Wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least a few hours and up to 2 days.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking with parchment paper. In a small bowl, pour about 1/4 cup sugar. Break off 1-Tbsp chunks of the cookie dough and roll them into balls. Then roll them around in the sugar to coat and place them on the baking sheets, 2 inches apart.
Bake the cookies 10 to 12 minutes, until dark brown. Let cool.
Related Posts
Subscribe for New Racipies
Get mental health tips, updates, and resources delivered to your inbox.
Pear And Blue Cheese Tart
Oops, an unintentional hiatus. And now an entire week has passed with hardly a check-in.
Weeks like the last can feel strange once they’re over. It was busy. BUSY. So that all other activities fell by the wayside. I don’t think I touched the stove at all except to heat up some canned soup (again, clam chowder). I also didn’t get the chance to take any photos for myself. Not even yesterday, when we ventured out of the city to go hiking in Cold Spring, New York.
Let me tell you, the fall foliage is stunning! We hiked to the top of a hill, where we stopped for lunch and peered down into the valley. Total tableau moment. A mottled, vibrantly-colored blanket of trees that swooped down into the valley, the Hudson River, gleaming and wide and slow, train tracks leading to the small town of Cold Spring along the shores of the river. And gosh, the town was cute. Do all New England towns look like this? Are they all so picturesque? It’s utterly foreign, just like the sight of palm tree-lined roads might be foreign to some of you. But they really do exist in California, even in random, unglamorous suburbs.
I can see why people love this season most of all. It answers the question of how the unbearable heat could possibly give way to unbearable cold. It’s done in increments, step-by-step, although on some days you feel that winter is very imminent. And on others, like today, you make sure to go outside and enjoy the sun for as long as you can.
I’m glad I have a down-filled jacket in my closet.
I made this pear and blue cheese tart a couple weeks ago. Chris gobbled it up, although he removed every chunk of blue cheese in his mouth’s way. Without the blue cheese, the tart reminds me an awful lot of a bear claw. Which I find irresistible. I mean, pear-scented puff pastry covered with almonds? Am I right?
The blue cheese fancies up the tart. I’m not opposed to that at all. It becomes sweet and salty and, well, peculiar in the way that blue cheese makes everything a little peculiar. Delicious. And perfect for the fall.
PEAR AND BLUE CHEESE TART
Adapted from Leite’s Culinaria
Makes 1 square tart
Ingredients:
- 1 9-inch square frozen puff pastry, defrosted
- 1/2 pound blanched almonds
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 to 2 pears, unpeeled, stemmed and thinly sliced (I used Asian pears)
- Honey for drizzling
- 2 to 4 ounces blue cheese
- 1 egg white, beaten with a small drizzle of water
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Use a pairing knife to score a line around the perimeter of the rectangle about 1/2 inch from the edge to make a border. Use a fork to poke holes inside the border so that the dough will remain flat as it cooks while the border will puff to create a lip for the tart.
Combine the almonds, sugar, and 1/2 tablespoon of water in a food processor and grind to a paste. Spread the paste over just the portion of the puff pastry inside the border. Arrange the pear slices over the almond paste. Drizzle with the honey and crumble the blue cheese over the top. Lightly brush the border with the egg and bake until the pastry is puffed and golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool slightly before cutting into squares.
Related Posts
Subscribe for New Racipies
Get mental health tips, updates, and resources delivered to your inbox.