Bacon Grease Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Leave your cookie monsters guessing about the secret ingredient in these tasty Bacon Grease Chocolate Chip Cookies. Granny knew saving the bacon grease was essential and this is my favorite use for it.

Cookies are served on a red and white towel to guests.

Old Fashioned Bacon Grease Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you keep bacon drippings on hand and appreciate using every bit of good flavor instead of letting it go to waste, this recipe puts it to delicious use.

It's a fun, flavorful spin on classic chocolate chip cookies with extra depth and tenderness people can't quite put their finger on... in the best way.

Bacon Grease Chocolate Chip Cookies are great for a night time snack, party treat, and holiday cookie exchanges.

Why Bacon Grease Works in Cookies

Bacon grease works surprisingly well in cookies because it functions just like other baking fat, such butter, shortening, margarine or lard, while adding a little extra savory richness.

As all fats do, bacon fat helps create a tender cookie, enhances flavor, and gives the dough a deeper, more complex taste. Mixing the bacon fat with butter helps to balance the flavor of the slightly stronger fat.

Bacon Fat works especially well in cookies with stronger flavors like chocolate chip, peanut butter, or molasses.

Eating bacon grease chocolate chip cookies with milk.

Ingredients for Bacon Fat Cookies

Utilizing my Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe as a starting point, I found that subbing bacon grease for half of the butter was the "sweet spot", so to speak for delicious chocolate chip cookies that are perfectly tender, sweet, and soft.

Bacon Grease - takes the place of other fats in this cookie and brings a little hint of flavor
Butter - helps to mellow out the bacon grease. I prefer the mixture of both fats.
White Sugar and Dark Brown Sugar - for the sweetness
Large Egg - always use large eggs and it's ideal if the egg is at room temperature when baking
Pure Vanilla Extract - adds a layer of traditional flavor to the cookie
All Purpose Flour - serves as the body of the cookie dough. Be sure to stir the flour before spooning it into your dry measuring cup and leveling it off. Accurate measurements matter in baking.
Baking Soda - the leavening agent that makes the cookie rise
Kosher Salt - balances the sweetness
Semi-Sweet or Dark Chocolate Chips - or any flavor of chips you like. Butterscotch would be delish!

Ingredients for Bacon Grease Chocolate Chip Cookies.

How to Make Bacon Grease Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix: In a large bowl, mix the room temperature bacon fat into the butter.

Cream: Add white and brown sugars to the butter and bacon grease. Cream them together until they are light and fluffy.

Add in: Add the egg and vanilla, lightly incorporate these two ingredients. Don't get to crazy stirring the egg in or your cookies will be a tough.

Stir in: Add carefully measured flour to the cookie mixture. When measuring flour make sure you stir the flour and never tap it or shake it. It should be measured with very light hands. Also add baking soda and salt.

Stir just until the dry ingredients are mixed in. Scrape the sides of the bowl and fold in semi-sweet chocolate chips. Refrigerate cookie dough, if time allows.

Sugars, butter, and bacon grease in a bowl.

Adding egg and vanilla into cookie batter ingredients.

Scoop: Scoop walnut-sized scoops of dough using a cookie scoop (maybe ping pong ball sized for those who need a different visual) onto the cool baking sheet.

Shape: Leave plenty of room for the cookies to spread - 3 cookies to a row is usually about right for most people's cookie sheets.

Folding chocolate chips into the bacon grease batter.

Scoops of Bacon Grease Chocolate Chip Cookie dough on a baking sheet.

Bake: Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are golden brown.

Cool: Allow cookies to set on the cookie sheet for 1-2 minutes to firm up before removing them to a cooling rack.

Chocolate Chip Dessert Recipes

I love a good dessert - especially a chocolate one. Try out our Espresso Brownies, Chocolate Chip Mug Cake or one of these:

Bacon Grease Recipes

If you're looking for other bacon grease recipes, try one of these:

The Art of Saving Bacon Grease

A friend of mine from Arkansas once told me you can render a Southerner speechless, by saying, "Why don't you just throw that bacon grease out?".

Is it really possible that people don't know that bacon grease is liquid gold that's full of rich flavor?

Writing this blog I consulted with friends near and far to assess people's bacon saving experience and habits.

And believe me when I tell you I asked around. I was traveling to and from DC when writing this post and asked random people in the airport, on the plane, and in my conference.

What did I find out? Shockingly, some people don't save the fat that is rendered when cooking bacon. GASP!

My people saved lots of things in case someone needed them - jars, plastic containers, paper bags, rags, seeds, etc. However, saving bacon grease, for my people is almost a religion.

If you don't already save your bacon fat, we can still be friends. But I'll keep an eye on you. 😉

How To Save and Store Bacon Grease

According to our friends at Southern Living: To safely store bacon grease, you must first get rid of any small bits of bacon that are left behind:

Place a coffee filter or cheesecloth over the mouth of a glass container, like a Mason jar, or a container made for bacon drippings. Press the filter down so that it fits snugly inside the mouth of the jar.
Slowly pour the warm (not hot!) grease into the jar-don't rush this step. (It's easier to do this if you transfer the drippings from the skillet into a glass measuring cup.) The coffee filter will trap whatever is left behind in the grease, leaving it nice and clear. You can also use a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth if you don't have coffee filters on hand.
Removing the bacon bits will also help prevent the grease from going rancid.
It's best to store bacon grease in the fridge.

FAQ

Is it safe to save bacon grease?

Yes! Straining the small bacon pieces out of the bacon fat will help it last longer and keep it from going rancid. Store in the fridge to help it last longer.

What can I do with saved bacon grease?

Well, of course, you can make these cookies, but bacon drippings are also great for flavoring veggies such as green beans, frying eggs, making a vinaigrette, making gravy, flavoring cornbread, or in Instant Pot Ham and Beans.

Do Bacon Grease Chocolate Chip Cookies taste like bacon?

When experimenting with this recipe, I had several taste testers (thank you UPS and FedEx delivery people for your service here at Laughing Rooster Eats).

I let them know there was a mystery ingredient and asked each of them to try to guess. NO ONE GUESSED. And even after I told them the secret ingredient they couldn't believe it. So, no. No strong bacon taste in theses cookies.

Can you buy bacon grease?

The answer is yes. You can order it online, but my ancestors would think I had done lost my mind. However, it's OK if you order it.

Can I make bacon grease chocolate chip cookies in advance?

Absolutely! I find it best to shape and freeze the unbaked cookie dough balls by putting them on a cookie sheet and freezing until hard. Freeze up to three months. Or refrigerate dough for 2-3 days if needed.

Can I use bacon grease instead of butter? Can bacon grease be used in baking?

Bacon grease is a great replacement for fat in basically any recipe, and baked goods are no exception.

Do I need to refrigerate my cookie dough?

For thicker, chewier cookies, it is ideal to refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 30 minutes before baking. However, I certainly have baked these cookies without any refrigerating time.

The refrigeration time solidifies the butter, slowing the melting of it in the oven, while also hydrating the flour and allowing the flavors to develop.

It may be necessary to bake cold dough for 1-3 minutes longer.

ready-to-eat bacon grease chocolate chip cookies.

Variations

I can think of several variations of this cookie. Here are a few for you to start with.

Choose a Chip Cookie - Try any flavor of baking chip you enjoy. I think caramel bits and butterscotch chips are close seconds to chocolate in my house.
Bacon Grease Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies - Instead of baking individual cookies, pour the cookie batter into a greased 9x9 baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.
Fruity Bacon Grease Chocolate Chip Cookies - Add raisins or dried cranberries to the batter for a little interest.
Nutty Bacon Grease Chocolate Chip Cookies - Add nuts along with chocolate chips. Try pecans, walnuts, pistachios, etc.
Bacon Cookies - Add some chopped bacon to the batter if you want to lift up the bacon flavor. Sprinkle the top of each cookie with flaky sea salt, if desired.

Storing Bacon Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookies will store well in an airtight container for up to a week. Of course, these last about 1 hour here.

The dough can be refrigerated for 2-3 days.

Freeze Cookie Dough for 2-3 months. I suggest making it into cookie balls before freezing for ease. Scoop your dough into balls, place on a cookie sheet, and allow to freeze. Then put the cookie dough balls into a freezer bag for easier storage.

Why use bacon grease in Chocolate Chip Cookies?

1. For the love of bacon, it's fun.
2. It's a great way to use bacon grease when I have an abundance.
3. It's cost-effective and budget friendly as bacon grease is considered a by-product by some.
4. These cookies are delicious!

Equipment

Cookie Sheets are so handy to have around. You need at least 2 so you can alternate them and allow them to cool between batches.
Cooking Racks are important so your cookies cool without sticking together or to the plate/countertop.
Cookie Scoops make it easy to scoop your dough and keep all the cookies similar in size so they cook evenly.

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If you have any questions about this recipe, please leave a comment below. I'll do my best to answer you quickly!

Lastly, if you made Bacon Grease Chocolate Chip Cookies following this recipe, please let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment and/or giving a rating!

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And of course, if you do make this recipe, tag @laughingroostereats on Instagram and hashtag it #laughingroostereats! Seeing your photos is our favorite thing!

Chuckie Hessong