Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies With Salted Caramel

It's International Bacon Day today. 

I can celebrate that. 

In fact, I say we start a petition to extend this day into a week long festival.  Who's with me?

Anyway, until that happens, you should probably make these cookies.

They are similar to our Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bacon Cookies  but still different enough to warrant a separate blog post. 

It's the salted caramel that really puts these over the top.

I mean....go big or go home when it comes to International Bacon Day, right?

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies With Salted Caramel

Ingredients

Salted Caramel

1/4 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup whipping cream

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 Tbsp vanilla

Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

3 cups peanut butter (smooth)

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 Tbsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

3 cups flour

1 cup peanut butter chips

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup bacon, cooked & diced  + 1/4 cup bacon, cooked & diced

1 - 2 Tbsp coarse sea salt

Directions

Prepare caramel - In a medium/large pot over medium-high heat, place butter, brown sugar, cream, salt, and vanilla.

Cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to cook and stir constantly for 7 minutes. 

Remove from heat and let cool completely.

Prepare cookies - Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together butter and peanut butter until smooth. Beat in sugars until well mixed. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

In a smaller bowl, stir together baking soda, baking powder, flour, peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, and 1/2 cup of the bacon.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until well combined. Using a medium cookie scoop (or you can pinch off a gold ball sized amount of dough and use your hands to roll it in a ball) place dough about 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet. Using a glass or the palm of your hand, flatten balls of dough slightly. 

Place a few bits of the remaining diced bacon onto each cookie. Sprinkle each cookie with a tiny pinch of the coarse sea salt.

Bake at 350 for 10 - 12 minutes, until edges of cookie are just slightly browned. (If you over cook them they will be crunchy instead of soft and chewy!) 

Remove from oven and let cool on wire racks.

When they are cool you can drizzle them generously with the salted caramel sauce and then dive in!

Okay. Let's be honest here. The salted caramel sauce is a little over the top. 

You totally do not need it to enjoy these cookies.

BUT....now hear me out....

The salted caramel brings these to a whole new level of indulgence that we don't often get to experience. 

It's soooooooooo good. 

Oh. yes. I should probably mention that this makes a lot of cookies. I think about 5 dozen with my cookie scoop. Not that too many cookies is even a thing around this house. 

Happy International Bacon Day!