Thursday, December 15, 2011

Cookie Contest - Sweet Heat Salty Bacon Buttons





MLK COOKIE CONTEST CONTINUES!


The second selection that I am posting for the cookie contest comes from one of our regular commenters, Dave.
Many of you might know 
Dave as "A Year on the Grill" and/or ERecipeCards. He has supplied a fabulously different cookie. Sweet, salty, and wow!  


And they’re gluten-free. Way to go, Dave. 


And they only have 4 ingredients.  Double-wow. 


Espresso coffee, cayenne pepper, bacon, and chocolate.


What's not to like about bacon?
I used Ghirardelli's 60% chips. 

SWEET HEAT SALTY BACON BUTTONS


Ingredients

1 bag “dark chocolate” chocolate chips
1 STRONG shot of espresso
1 pound thick cut bacon (Fried, dried and diced)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

Melt the chocolate (Microwave in short bursts, stirring in between). [Note: I used a 70% setting.)

Add the Espresso Shot and mix well. (Note: a shot from my espresso machine was about 4 tablespoons of coffee. I would bet you could make some strong coffee as a substitute, if you don't have an espresso machine.)

Line up tiny cupcake papers (candy-sized) and add 1/2 teaspoon of melted chocolate in the bottom of each paper.
Add a tiny (and Dave means tiny) pinch of cayenne spice to the top of each.  Not enough to change the taste to a pepper chocolate, but just enough to add an interesting taste.  About 1/4 of a normal pinch is plenty. [On the right is a picture of a teaspoon of spice on the espresso coffee plate.]

Top with 1 teaspoon of crumbled crispy bacon and press into the chocolate.

Dave didn’t say how many this made. My batch made: 3 dozen.



You do not have to bake.  Again, how cool is this?!

Allow the sweets to cool and, as Dave says, watch as the "traditional" sugar cookies sit there while these become the life of your party!

Now, I will admit that these sound a bit more like “candy” since there is no flour involved, but…who cares. Brownie, candy, bar, cookie. They’re all bite-sized desserts.  You be the judge.


Also, baker's note: I noticed that the chocolate was hardening between batches (I could only put 12 liners into my tray at a time), so I re-microwaved the chocolate for about twenty seconds each time. This made the chocolate a little soft, so the second and third batches needed a longer time to cool. I put them in the refrigerator, and they cooled faster.

Dave has provided a great demo of these delights on his Dave’s ECardRecipes website. Here’s the LINK. 




JUST FOR FUN...being the "cheese" lady, I made the last few of these, substituting Parmesan cheese for the bacon, and then I did a few with bacon AND Parmesan. Yum. Just a twist.


P.S.  BOTH DAVE AND MY COOKIE CONTEST FINALIST FROM LAST WEEK, DENISE, HAVE WON SOME SWEET COOKIE CUTTERS FOR BEING FINALISTS!  [DAVE, if you see this message and miss all the others I've sent, write me.  Avery at averyaames dot com  DENISE, yours are in the mail!]







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 so you can learn about upcoming events, releases, and contests!

And watch for CLOBBERED BY CAMEMBERT, coming out February 2012.


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16 comments:

  1. My daughter always says, everything is better with bacon. So I am going to get what I need and make these. Sounds interesting for sure :)

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  2. Trust Dave to be on the cutting edge! Why aren't we meeting together to taste test? I really want to try one of these. Guess I'll have to make them!

    ~ Krista

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  3. I guess you'll both have to make them. Met my friend Rochelle Staab yesterday and gave her a couple of these goodies. She about "died" and went to heaven. She loved them and chatted them up to the girls at the next table. Very cute.

    Thanks, Dave!

    ~Avery

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  4. WOW, these really would be the talk of a party. Very cool cookie. Thanks, Avery (and Dave)!

    ~ Cleo Coffeehouse Mystery.com
    Cleo Coyle on Twitter

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  5. Hmmm. I'm going to try these with the vegie bacon. Since it's just the crumbled bits, I wonder if it would work?? I love all these flavors.

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  6. Thought I'd pop over to your kitchen and see what's cookin'!

    Boy do these sound and look interesting. I bet the chocolate and the salt are amazin' together.

    I'm swipin' this recipe right here in broad daylight sister!!!

    God bless ya and have a glorious day sweetie!

    BTW: Giveaway, my place please drop in. The fresh apple ciders on the stove and the fudge is goooooood!!! Heeehehhee :o)

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  7. Cleo, Wendy, and Nezzy, so thrilled that you like "Dave's" recipe! They are yummy. Wendy, I bet they'd be fine with the veggie bacon (just not the same). :)

    ~Avery

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  8. I am stunned... Thanks for the shout out! And the pick. I made these for Halloween (I was the Ironed Chef. Complete with Ironing Board), and gave these away to the adults that were taking the wee ones out trick or treating. A HUGE HIT with the neighborhood.

    But just a couple of days ago we held a Christmas Cookie exchange in the hood. Pretty much the exact same recipe, but I added a drizzle of white chocolate and a tiny bit (about 1/8 of the amount of the bacon) of finely crushed peppermint sticks.

    In my opinion, not as good, but much more Christmassy looking.

    Thanks again for the shout out, but wondering if I was selected or if Avery lost a bet to the rest of you

    You are all my favorites!

    Dave

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  9. Just added thick-cut bacon to the list. O.M.G.--these sound terrific.

    Thanks Dave and Avery!

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  10. Avery, we *knew* you probably meant "loved", but glad you *lived* to tell about it, lol!

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  11. Avery,
    You and Dave have literally saved me!!! I volunteered to bring a nosh for an upcoming birthday party for a 12 year old bacon lover..his dad is a chef. Talk about a daunting challenge...but young E is a bacon and chocolate lover so this should meet his criteria and also his dad's creative palate!!

    Thank you both so very much!!

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  12. Nanc, I hope you'll report back! I can't wait to hear about it.

    ~ Krista

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  13. Lynn, haha! Exactly what I was thinking. And that thick-cut bacon. Definitely one of my new faves.

    Nanc, glad to save you. On my Facebook page this morning, someone wrote that she thought bacon had to taste good with chocolate. After all, how often do you have french toast and bacon and add syrup. [Actually, I am going to blog something for new year's that has french toast and bacon...coming up. Yum]

    Hugs to all - Avery

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  14. Of course I'm going to love anything with bacon in it! These bacon buttons look delicious to me! Yum!

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