Inspired by Kitchenette’s delightful bacon snickerdoodles, I solicited the help of the Joy of Cooking for a basic snickerdoodle recipe and tweaked it a bit to accommodate the addition of tasty, salty bacon.

Bacon Snickerdoodles Recipe
Recipe adapted from Irma Rombauer’s the Joy of Cooking

For the dough, makes eighteen 3-inch cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg

For the cinnamon-sugar coating

1/8 cup sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

And of course, don’t forget the bacon.  A few strips will do.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix thoroughly the dry ingredients: flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a small bowl until well blended.  Using a wooden spoon, mix thoroughly the softened butter and sugar in a large bowl until it becomes a well blended paste. Add the egg and mix until well combined. Stir in the flour mixture. Stir it in incrementally so you won’t have flour all over the place. Mix thoroughly and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon for the coating.

Slice the bacon strips widthwise into 1/2-inch wide slices.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4-inch balls.  It’s a bit sticky so I ended up scooping the dough with a spoon instead of shaping it by hand.  Roll them in the cinnamon-sugar coating, and arrange about 2-3/4 inches apart on the cookie sheets. Place the bacon slices on top of each ball, right in the middle. Gently press down the bacon. This will flatten the dough a bit, but just a tiny bit.  Doing this makes sure that the bacon stays in the middle of the cookie as it bakes.  The first time I tried baking these cookies, I just laid the bacon strips on top of the dough without pressing it down gently. The bacon did not stay in the center and it flowed toward the edge of the cookie as it baked.

Bake one sheet at a time, until the cookies are light golden brown at the edges, 12 to 14 minutes. Let the cookies stand briefly then place them on racks to cool.