Does the world really need another chocolate chip cookie recipe? I’d say probably not. But when someone mentioned to me that they made their chocolate chip cookies with bacon grease, well, my curiosity was piqued.
Do you cook with bacon grease? I use it all the time for savory applications—in my refried beans, in my cornbread, in my cream gravy and in my okra, to name just a few places this fat is most welcome. Why do I use it? Well, I just love how with just one dollop you can propel a dish from mundane to magical. But using bacon grease for something sweet? For some silly reason, this had never crossed my mind.
Now, if you’re not already saving your bacon grease and you’re a bacon eater—I highly recommend this practice. You know that coffee can your great-grandmother always kept by the stove? Yep, that’s where she stored her bacon grease, within easy reach for cooking. I’m not so brave, however, so I keep my bacon grease in a Mason jar in the refrigerator; I recommend you do the same. I reckon it keeps for a few months, though I use it so often I’ve never had the chance to test this theory.
As for the cookies, I’d wanted to make a recipe that I found in my great-grandma Blanche’s collection that called for buttermilk, which also seemed like an unusual ingredient. And as our great-grandmother’s were the arbiters of thrift, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that perhaps she made cookies with bacon grease as well.
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