Sesame Bacon Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
Updated: Jun 23, 2025
I had a dessert concept, essentially a parfait of coconut whipped topping, fresh cherries, and…
… something.
I wanted dark; I wanted chocolate; I wanted not-too-sweet, complex, nuanced and unusual. I had come across the idea of adding bacon to chocolate chip cookies before, but I wanted something even beyond that, and I wanted crispy. So I got to thinking about it, looked at a few recipes, and came up with these.
They are an extravagant success, even beyond my wildest dreams. These aren’t something you can binge on (at least, I can’t), but a single cookie as a nightcap with a glass of milk is special, and I imagine that if you swapped the milk out for a glass of port you’d be venturing into the realm of savagely, gloriously libertine.
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (spoon into the measuring cup and sweep the top level)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons bacon fat
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup dark chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli 72% cacao), plus more*
1/2 cup cooked, coarsely crumbled bacon, plus more*
*How much more? Enough more!
I started with about 8 oz. of chocolate chips and 6 oz. (before cooking) of bacon; I needed a little more bacon to add at the end, so cook more than that. For pity’s sake, are you HONESTLY going to tell me that you can’t find ways to dispose of “extra” bacon and chocolate chips?!?
METHOD:
- Arrange racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda together until thoroughly combined in a medium bowl; set aside.
Beat the butter, bacon fat, sesame oil, and sugars together with a hand or stand mixer on medium-high speed until creamy, about 5 minutes; it’s okay if the mixture looks ‘broken’ or curdled.
Add the water and vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
Reduce speed to low and beat in one egg until fully incorporated; then add the second and again beat until completely combined.
Add the flour mixture, beat at low speed until just combined.
Fold in the cup of chocolate chips and half-cup of bacon pieces.
- Drop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Press 2 or 3 additional chocolate chips and a couple additional bacon pieces into each cookie.
(Afterthought: You could sprinkle these generously with sesame seeds too.)
- Bake the cookies (one pan on each rack) until they are a deep golden brown, switching the pans halfway through, about 12 to 15 minutes.
(I had to let these get pretty much uniformly brown to get the crispiness I wanted; cookies that are a lighter golden brown in the center are still plenty tasty though.)
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with any remaining dough, using fresh parchment paper.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies
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