I'd post a real picture but...
I want to make chocolate chip cookies. Lois’s Chocolate Chip cookies but I have no shortening. And they don’t turn out the same with butter. They just don’t.
But the weather is dicey. Slippery. Don’t drive if you don’t have too. So I am torn–how badly do I want the cookies?
Filed under Ruminations on the Edible, Strange but Tasty
PC Bacon Marmalade in the left corner and Skillet Bacon Jam in the right.
I’ve been meaning to do a tête-à-tête with my two bacon spreads for a while so why not kill two birds with one stone?
I was making thumbprint cookies for the holidays and they have convenient little holes for filling. I hoped bacon might infuse some sweet/savoury magic into my cookie tins. Plus bacon in dessert is so overdone already, what better time than Christmas to overdo it?
The President’s Choice Bacon Marmalade, though a knock-off of the Skillet Bacon Jam, is actually quite different. It’s made with caramelized onion and balsamic vinegar and is much sweeter than the Skillet Spread. Great with an aged cheddar on a cracker or in grilled cheese, it has a more typical marmalade consistency with spice and orange peel. The bacon element adds savour but as an afterthought.
Skillet Bacon Jam and PC Bacon Marmalade
As you can see there is a clear winner in the looks department. The bacon jam is a BEFORE picture and the marmalade is the AFTER (once the jam has shaved, flossed and waxed).
Skillet bacon jam is meaty, smoky, pulled pork like in consistency. It has bacon flavour full force. It’s “smack me so I stop eating this” kind of good. Smoked bacon is the first ingredient in the Skillet product and sugar is the first ingredient in the PC marmalade. Depends how much jam you want in your bacon jam.
Back to the cookies. I am happy to report that all cookies turned out pretty tasty. The sweet/sour character of the Bacon Marmalade’s balsamic vinegar and caramelized onion base was very complimentary to the buttery cookie.
Quite lovely, no?
But it was the Bacon Jam thumbprints that surprised me. Because to be perfectly honest, I had a hard time taking a bite. It’s the image problem again. You’d rather get a piece of coal in your stocking than have this show up at your door. It’s like The Cat Came Back in a cookie.
Now I'm thinking hide the bacon jam INSIDE the cookie.
They look furry, to put it kindly. But they tasted fantastic. The sweet, the salty–it was a darn good combo. But you’d have to serve it to people at night, with no lights on. No candles. Not even Scentsy. But, on the bright side you could all be comfortably naked. And blissed out on bacon.
It’s not everyday I gasp aloud in delight (aside from everytime I use my nutmeg grater) but I did squeal a little when I saw these Mini Butterscotch Melts from Presidents Choice.
I mean, I think the delight is self-explanatory, if you haven’t almost peed your pants in excitement as this point, I don’t know how to explain the new heights this will take your cookie baking.
Instead let me show you more pictures—
See, they are smaller than a peanut (though I acknowledge that this peanut appears monstrous). So the beauty here is, you don’t have to add less chips or call your cookie “chocolate chunk”, it’s still chocolate chip but SUPERCHARGED. (I also saw a suggestion to add them to banana bread which peaked my interest-or how about throwing them into a trail mix).
I caution you to not open a package before eating breakfast. You may have a light bulb moment prompting you to put these into a bowl and cover them with milk. This is a delusion. Please toast some whole grain bread and melt the chips on top! It’s just like Nutella but more nutritious.
Here’s what the pack looks like. I got these in as part of a gift bag when I was invited into the President’s Choice Test Kitchen to try some new holiday products. It was a bit of Willy Wonka experience (though not the trippy Gene Wilder version of the 70s) and I was fascinated to hear about the product development process. I’ve always been curious. More on that coming up.
For now– crave the chips.
Filed under Restaurants and Products, Ruminations on the Edible
Cheese Feed
cheese and toast 