brown-butter bacon shortbread with bourbon-maple glaze

at a recent food-swap

i traded jam for 

browned butter shortbread 

it was
out of this world

within minutes 

of finishing the very last crumb

i was conspiring to make my own

the gal with whom i swapped

was kind enough to share the recipe 

from gourmet magazine

(insert long sigh and whimper mourning the loss of this fabulous magazine)

while browning the butter

i was reminded a bit of the smell

of bacon

caveat

i have been know to swear
that i smell bacon

at a kosher deli

i'm only slightly obsessed

i do draw the line

at

chocolate covered bacon

don't love it

but

here is what i do love

these 

crispy, nutty, salty 

with a throat warming

bourbon glaze

 brown-butter bacon shortbread

with bourbon-maple glaze
*this recipe only slightly resembles its inspiration. the addition of bacon, bacon fat, nuts, and glaze are all mine
original recipe here
(printable recipe)

shortbread

4 oz browned butter-cooled to solid in fridge

2 oz bacon grease--cooled to solid in fridge

1/2 tsp grey sea salt (kosher is fine)

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup bacon--cooked crispy and finely chopped

1 1/3 cup+ 3 Tbs all purpose flour

1 cup toasted and chopped pecans

in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the cooled butter, cooled bacon grease and brown sugar. add the salt and vanilla and stir to mix.  mix in the bacon bits, then the flour. mix only to fully incorporate the flour, do not over mix. 

remove the dough from mixer and form into a cylinder on plastic wrap

roll the dough into the chopped nuts, cover and place in refrigerator.  let rest in fridge for an hour.

when ready to bake, heat oven to 350f. slice the roll into 1/4" slices and place on lined cookie sheet, leaving about 1/2" between each cookie. these will spread a bit.

allow to bake about 10-12 minutes or until they start to brown on the bottom. remove from oven and let cool.  

once cool, drizzle with glaze.

bourbon maple glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp maple syrup

up to 1 Tbs bourbon

place powdered sugar in a bowl. stir in the maple syrup.  add bourbon 1 tsp at a time until it reaches a nice runny consistency, that will barely hold its shape.  pour into a piping bag or use a spoon to decoratively drizzle over the cookies.  allow to sit until the glaze has firmed up.

i am parading this recipe

is if it is a

pig at the county fair

at foodbuzz' baconalia

with 

fingers crossed

that it is blue ribbon worthy