Recipe for Swedish Ginger Spice Cookies

Active Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours

People who like spice cookies love them - people who like bacon devour them!

Ingredients

3/4 cup bacon fat, cooled (from 1 1/2 - 2 pounds of lean bacon)

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup dark unsulfered molasses

1 large egg

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Place bacon fat in large mixing bowl and add the sugar, molasses and egg. Stir dry ingredients together, then mix into liquid ingredients, blending until well combined. You can also place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and blend until dough forms.
3. Chill dough for several hours, until firm.
4. Drop tablespoons of dough onto plate of granulated sugar to coat, then place balls on greased cookie sheet. Space 2 inches apart and flatten tops with fingers.
5. Bake 10 - 12 minutes, until browned. Let cool on baking sheet for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a rack.

You can substitute 1 1/2 sticks (12 ounces) of unsalted butter for the bacon fat, but the authenticity is lost.

The bacon is a presence, but not overpowering. (Yes, I had to take this all on faith - I can make them but I can't eat them...)