Back in 2007 I found a recipe for Chocolate Chip and Bacon Cookies on a website called Never Bashful With Butter. I’m glad I took the recipe down, rather than relying on links, because the blog isn’t there any more.

I’ve made the cookies a few times now, refining the recipe as I go along, and am now at a point where I think it’s ready for sharing. So, in memory of Never Bashful With Butter, here it is:

Chocolate Chip and Bacon cookies (makes a batch of 24 large or 48 small cookies)

225g butter
150g soft brown sugar
150g granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg (you can add an extra egg if the dough comes out a bit dry and crumbly)
300g flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
200g dark chocolate chips
One bottle of beer, chilled. What kind doesn’t really matter, just one you like.
24 rashers thinly-sliced dry-cure streaky bacon

First, heat a grill to its highest heat and spread the bacon rashers on your grill pan so they’re not touching or overlapping. Grill the bacon rashers until they’re really crispy, turning once. You might need to do this in batches depending on the size of your grill. Remove each batch onto kitchen paper to soak up excess grease.

Set aside two rashers. You will be tempted to eat them, but resist. Once the rest have cooled sufficiently, put on some loud music and chop them into very fine pieces with a big knife. You’re aiming to get about 200g of tiny cooked bacon bits. If you are unsure of your ability to not eat the tasty tasty bacon, maybe cook a couple of extra rashers.

Preheat oven to 175 C

Beat together the butter, sugars, vanilla extract and eggs until creamy.

In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir together into a soft dough.

Add in chocolate chips and bacon bits and stir until it’s all mixed together properly.

Place dough on a sheet of greaseproof paper and refrigerate. While the fridge is open, remove the beer.

Open the beer, and have a sit down for an hour or so, enjoying the cool refreshment and sense of kitcheny accomplishment. Do not eat the two spare rashers of bacon.

Remove dough from fridge, divide into three equal pieces, then divide each piece in half, then in half again and so on until you have 24 or 48 dough blobs. Roll the dough blobs into balls, then arrange them about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Squash your balls slightly in the middle with your fingers.

Bake cookies for about 10 minutes, or until the dough starts to turn golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack.

Maple cinnamon icing

225g icing sugar
2 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Take the two crispy bacon rashers left over from earlier that you haven’t eaten (you haven’t, have you?) and chop each one into 12 small pieces with a pair of scissors. This will give you 24 pieces, one for each cookie, so try not to eat any. If you’ve made the smaller cookies, just cut smaller pieces.

Mix all other icing ingredients together until smooth and creamy.

Spread a small amount of the glaze on the top of each cookie and top with your crispy bacon square.

Serve to amazed and delighted friends and colleagues.

I finally got around to recreating this bad boy from a few years ago, with a few tweaks, and this time it was a definite success.

I reduced half a bottle of Pimms to a syrup. Once the (scored and seasoned) duck breasts were seared off, I basted them with the reduction and popped them in the oven for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, I cooked some noodles and made up a dressing which was 3 parts Extra Virgin Olive Oil/ 1 part sesame oil / 3 parts lemon juice, and dressed the noodles with this. Cucumber strips were also given a quick dress in some lemon juice and then it was all plated up – noodles first, then some shredded spring onions, then the cucumber strips. Once the duck was rested, it went on top of each noodly cucumber stack and was topped with a strawberry which had been sliced, covered in black pepper, and warmed through in the oven. Finally, the remains of the Pimms reduction was drizzled round the edge of the plate.

A decent size cast-iron pan or skillet would be ideal for this. If you’ve not got a suitable one, you can do the first part in a normal pan, then transfer to an oven-proof dish.

Serves 2:

Heat an oven to 180C

Season 2 pork shoulder steaks with salt and black pepper, then give them a good dusting of smoked paprika. Heat a little olive oil in your pan and sear the steaks on both sides. Set aside.
Turn the heat down, then to the same pan, add a chopped onion, a crushed garlic clove and a chopped chili. Sweat these down for a minute or two then add 4 beetroot, peeled and cut into half inch chunks and, if you fancy it some mushrooms (I used closed cup ones cut into quarters, but button ones would work as well).

If you’re using a separate oven dish, now is the time to transfer from the pan. Add shelled broad beans, and enough water or white wine to cover. Return the steaks to the pan, nestling them in amongst everything else so they get mostly covered in liquid, cover with foil and put in the oven.

After 25 minutes or so, uncover and cook for another 20 minutes.

Take out the meat and put in a warm place to rest. Spoon the veg mixture into warmed bowls. Reduce the liquid by half, then take off the heat and stir in a knob of butter. Put the rested meat on the veg, add any juices to the sauce and pour over.

Nom nom nom.

I tried cooking it for the first time last week, when we had some friends round for dinner. I scored the skin of 4 duck breasts, seasoned them and then pan-fried them skin side down in a hot, dry pan. Once the skin had browned and started to render the fat, I turned the duck over and added a good chug of Pimm’s to the pan. I then cooked the duck breasts until they were just slightly pink, basting the duck in the Pimm’s reduction. About 5 minutes before serving I added some strawberries to the pan and cooked them down into a kind of compote.

 In the meantime I had cooked some noodles, which I dressed in lemon juice, and cut a cucumber into ribbons with a potato peeler. I served a bed of noodles, a layer of cucumber and then the duck, topped with the strawberry and a drizzle of the pan juices.

The verdict was that it was a success, with some room for improvement. Next time I think I’ll make a separate Pimms and strawberry reduction rather than using the pan juices, as the duck fat made the sauce slightly greasy.