Smoky Bacon-Ginger Cookies

It's that baking time of the year for me when it seems as if my kitchen is a non-stop flurry of activity!
I baked these cookies the night after Thanksgiving because I was bored and had the "hankering" to bake something!
The recipe comes from the new 2010 Martha Stewart Holiday Cookies issue that comes out each year in November.
Always looking for interesting and unique recipes, this one really proves to be unique.

These highly flavorful cookies build upon the bacon-for-dessert craze with a couple of other fashionable ingredients--sorghum and smoked sea salt. If you can't find sorghum, locally, which I could not find in my area, unsulfured molasses can be used.

For about 5 dozen cookies, you'll need:

8 oz thick-cut smoked bacon (about 6 slices)
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teas. baking soda
1 Tablespoon ground ginger
1 teas. ground cinnamon
1/2 teas. coarse salt
3 Tablespoons plus 2 teas. unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Large Egg
1/3 cup sorghum syrup or unsulfured molasses
1/2 cup raw sugar, such as turbinado (Sugar In The Raw brand)
Smoked sea salt, for sprinkling, such as Maldon's

Cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 14 minutes. Pour off fat and reserve (you should have 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons fat and 3/4 cup bacon); transfer bacon to a paper-towel lined plate, let bacon and reserved fat cool.


Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk together flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with paddle attachment, beat together butter, granulated and brown sugars on medium-high until fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Beat in reserved bacon fat. Add egg and mix until blended, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Add sorghum (or molasses) and mix until blended. Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture, mixing until blended.

Mix in the reserved bacon.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll balls in the raw sugar to coat. Space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment or silicone non-stick baking mats. Flatten balls using the palm of your hand or a spatula, sprinkle lightly with smoked sea salt.

Bake 1 sheet at a time, rotating halfway through, until edges are set and tops are cracked but centers are still soft, about 8 minutes. Let cookies cool completely on wire racks. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature for up to 3 days.