Bacon? In my cookies?

Ahh, it seems like only yesterday I was sticking bacon into delicious cupcakes but it was....
September.
SEPTEMBER?!?
Holy smokes.
Where does the time go??

I've been M.I.A. around the blogosphere due to performing in a local theatre company's production of CHICAGO. What a blast! I can't believe it's over already, but I suppose all good things must come to an end. Much like reaching for that very last cookie. Ahhhh cookies.

Allow me to make up for my long absence by sharing this amazing recipe.
I must thank StumbleUpon for leading me to this culinary delight in my hour of need. It was getting dangerously close to the annual cookie exchange we have the first Saturday of December every year with the ladies of my mom's side and I still hadn't settled on a recipe. Of course I found myself in procrastination mode 'stumbling' across the internet aimlessly when I was brought to a certain post on the blog Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy. And the rest my friends, is history.

Behold! Candied Bacon-Chocolate Chunk Cookies.
I'll just let the photos speak for themselves...







Why yes, they were as good as they look. Maybe better actually. The candied bacon really takes it to a whole other level. If I ever venture back into bacon cupcake territory I will definitely try candying up my bacon first! SO GOOD. And everyone at the party LOVED them (thank goodness there were no vegetarians!). I gave some to a friend, who brought them into work and a co-worker told her the next day that she dreamed about these cookies. That's how good they are.

DO NOT DELAY! Try the recipe for yourself!

Bacon? In my cupcakes?

I've been talking about it for a while but tonight I finally did it.
I made bacon cupcakes.

I got the recipe in question from Vanilla Garlic which claims that this was the "original" bacon cupcake recipe on the internet, so I knew I was in good hands.

I followed the recipe pretty much exactly except for one component. As I was frying up my bacon for the batter I had a revelation. A BACON ROSE. The perfect classy addition, and super easy to do. I started by lining a baking sheet with foil and putting a wire baking rack on top. Then I just rolled up strips of bacon and put a toothpick through about 1/3 from the bottom. I took each roll and sort of wedged them in between the wires of the rack so the rose was standing upright with the toothpick perpendicular to the wire. Then I baked those babies for 15 minutes on 350. After I let them cool, I trimmed off the bottoms because the strips were quite wide to begin with, but if your bacon is thinner then you can probably skip that step.

After frosting the cakes I popped a toothpick through the roses and stabbed them to the tops. I skipped topping them with sea salt since the bacon was salty but I did add the turbinado sugar.

Find the recipe HERE and try them out for yourself!