A Fashion Critic's Bacon-Fat Cookies

High-end fashion and bacon fat.

I couldn't think of two things more disparate and yet, flipping through the pages of the New York Times a few years ago, there it was: Fashion critic Cathy Horyn's  paean to a recipe for Swedish ginger cookies made with bacon grease that she has "cherished for years."

My first reaction: Be still my beating heart, both figuratively and, quite possibly, literally. The cookie seemed like an insane, artery-clogging idea. The first ingredient listed, after all, was "3/4 cup bacon fat, cooled (from 1 1/2 to 2 pounds Oscar Mayer bacon)."

Two pounds of bacon? Cathy was officially my new hero.

Given that my household consumes bacon at every chance possible -- there's usually a package of it in the fridge, at the ready for any comfort-food emergency -- I felt duty-bound to give this cookie recipe a whirl. You know, in the spirit of trying to save the earth by finding some use for every byproduct and all that.

I could practically hear the rallying cry in my head: When life gives you bacon fat, make bacon-fat cookies.

So at the first chance, we fried up some bacon and gave this a go. I found that a pound sometimes yields just enough grease for this recipe, as long as you don't buy the fancy stuff. (I later also learned to avoid apple cider-cured or maple-flavored versions, which tend to lend a plasticky sweetness to the cookies. You really want the deep, smoky flavor of the bacon to come through and stand up to the ginger, cloves and cinnamon.) 

I also found that this cookie recipe was incredibly easy -- just dump all ingredients in a food processor and turn it on. It doesn't get any simpler than that.

Years -- and several pounds -- later, this cookie remains a regular in my rotation. I'll pull out the recipe on those increasingly rare Saturdays that we'll think it's OK to indulge ourselves and fry up a mound of bacon.

While the cookie still seems fundamentally at odds with the pervasive obsession in New York City with model-thin physiques, when the urge strikes, I'll pause for a moment and think, "What would Cathy do?"

And out, invariably, the bacon will come.

Note: This piece is adapted from A Tiger in The Kitchen: www.atigerinthekitchen.com

Click here for the recipe: Swedish Ginger Cookies