Averie Cooks

-1 Cook the bacon on the stove in a large skillet and blot the excess grease from the cooked bacon with paper towels.
-1 Chop 6 strips of the bacon into small pieces about the size of chocolate chips; set aside.
-1 Very finely mince the other 2 strips of bacon. This will be used as a garnish on the cookies after baking; set aside. Tip - Do not mingle the bacon after you chop it since 6 strips of it goes into the batter and 2 strips of it is reserved for garnishing.
-1 Preheat oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat liners; set aside.
-1 To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and handheld electric mixer), add the butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes; stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
-1 Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, optional table salt, and beat on low speed to incorporate; stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
-1 Add half the chopped chocolate, all the butterscotch chips, the 6 strips of chopped bacon, and beat on low to just incorporate.
-1 Optionally, at this point you can chill the mixing bowl of dough in your fridge for up to 1 hour. This will help prevent the cookies from spreading somewhat as they bake, but it's optional.
-1 Using a medium cookie scoop, form approximately 12 balls of dough, using about 2 to 3 tablespoons of dough per cookie dough ball.
-1 Roll each ball in a bit of the reserved chopped chocolate.
-1 Evenly space the cookie dough balls on the two baking sheets. Tip - These cookies do spread, even if you chill the dough, so don't crowd them on the baking sheet. I suggest baking 6 cookies (8 max) per baking sheet.
-1 Bake for about 10 to 14 minutes, or until the edges have just barely set, and the tops are glossy. Cookies will looks very glossy and under-done when you pull them from the oven, but they do firm up as the cool. Tips - Watch your cookies and not the clock in determining doneness. All ovens, climates, baking sheets, and ingredients vary, and therefore so will baking time. For best results, bake one sheet of cookies at a time, on the center oven rack, rotating once midway through the baking time for optimal results. Repeat with the second sheet of cookies.
-1 Optionally but recommended, when you remove the trays of cookies from the oven, give the trays a couple taps on your counter, making sure to have a firm hold on the trays with hot mitts. This shakes out air and settles the cookies.
-1 While the chocolate is still melted and warm, evenly sprinkle the tops of the cookies with the finely minced bacon from the 2 strips of cooked bacon.
-1 Optionally, evenly sprinkle the cookies with Maldon Sea Salt Flakes, your favorite sea salt, or coarse salt if you don't have sea salt on hand.
-1 Serve after cookies are cooled and set fully. Because they are thin, they'll break more easily if they're not properly cooled before serving. These cookies are best eaten the day you make them, or within 24 hours. Extra cookies should be kept airtight in the fridge, where they'll keep for up to 3 days. I haven't ever frozen these cookies, either unbaked dough or baked cookies, so cannot comment how that would work. In my opinion, this is a recipe you should plan to make and consume, rather than store long-term.