This post may contain affiliate links.
Maple Bacon Cookies are chewy brown sugar cookies made with real bacon grease, finished with a maple icing drizzle, toasted pecans, and crispy bacon bits, sweet, salty, and completely unforgettable. I baked the first batch on a lazy Sunday after a big breakfast, and now they share top billing with our Reese’s peanut butter cup cookies on every cookie tray.
Bacon grease takes the butter role in a chewy maple dough, and the sweet salty payoff is the most talked about cookie on the plate.
Maple Bacon Cookies Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 20 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 14 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 34 minutes (plus chilling)
- 🍽️ Serving: 18 cookies
- ⚡ Calories: 255kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Sweet and salty (maple syrup, brown sugar, and real bacon)
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, on par with our lunch lady peanut butter cookies
Quick Answer
Whisk flour and baking soda, then cream bacon grease with dark brown sugar, beat in an egg, and add maple syrup, vanilla, and maple extract. Mix in the dry ingredients, chill the dough at least 2 hours, then scoop balls onto lined sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 13 minutes. Finish with a quick maple icing of melted butter, maple syrup, and powdered sugar, then top with chopped pecans and crispy bacon.
Jump to:
- Maple Bacon Cookies Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Recipe Works
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- How to Make Maple Bacon Cookies
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Serving Ideas and Suggestions
- Maple Bacon Cookies FAQs
- Other Recommended Cookie Recipes
- Easy Maple Bacon Cookies Recipe (with Maple Icing)
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Bacon grease is the secret butter. It carries smoky, savory depth into the dough itself, so the bacon flavor is baked into every bite instead of just sprinkled on top.
- Dark brown sugar doubles the chew. The extra molasses keeps the centers soft and adds a caramel note that loves maple syrup.
- Two maples are better than one. Real syrup brings moisture and gentle flavor while maple extract delivers the bold maple punch syrup alone cannot.
- The 2 hour chill is mandatory. Bacon grease melts faster than butter, so the cold rest is what keeps these cookies thick instead of spreading into puddles.
- The icing sets glossy. Melted butter and syrup whisked into powdered sugar firms into a glaze that holds the pecans and bacon in place.
- Salty toppings finish the job. Crispy bacon and toasted pecans on the wet icing give every cookie that sweet salty crunch people cannot stop talking about.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Sweet, salty, smoky, chewy. Four crave boxes, one cookie, and nobody guesses the secret is bacon grease.
- A genuine conversation starter. These are the cookies people photograph at the cookie exchange, right before they take three more.
- Pantry friendly. If you save bacon grease like we do, the dough is mostly staples, just like our old fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies.
Key Ingredients
The ingredient list reads like breakfast and dessert had a baby. Quantities are in the recipe card below; here is why each one matters.
- Bacon grease. The star fat. Use clarified homemade grease or a jarred brand; it creams with sugar just like butter and bakes in smoky depth, the same liquid gold we put to work on our loaded potato skins.
- Dark brown sugar. Deep molasses sweetness that keeps the cookies chewy and pairs perfectly with maple.
- Pure maple syrup and maple extract. The syrup goes in the dough and the icing; the extract makes the maple flavor unmistakable.
- Powdered sugar and butter. The quick stovetop maple icing that sets glossy and holds the toppings.
- Chopped pecans and crispy bacon. The crunchy, salty finish that makes these cookies famous.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
These cookies take well to a few smart twists.
- Skip the icing. The cookies are delicious plain and chewy, just press a little bacon into the tops before baking.
- Add a flaky salt finish. A pinch over the wet icing sharpens the sweet salty contrast.
- Toast the pecans. Five minutes in a dry pan deepens the nutty flavor, a trick straight from our grandma’s caramel pecan logs.
- Make them breakfast cookies. Add a half cup of old fashioned oats to the dough for a heartier bite.
- No maple extract? Double the vanilla; the cookies lean butterscotch instead of maple and are still fantastic.
How to Make Maple Bacon Cookies
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream the bacon grease and dark brown sugar with an electric mixer until smooth, about 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the egg for 30 seconds, then add the maple syrup, vanilla extract, and maple extract and beat until well combined.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. Cover and chill the dough at least 2 hours, up to 3 days. If chilled longer than 2 hours, let it sit out 30 minutes before scooping.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment. Scoop 1.5 tablespoon balls of dough onto the sheets, 2 inches apart.
- Bake 12 to 13 minutes until lightly browned at the edges and soft in the center, then cool the cookies on a rack.
- For the icing, melt the butter and maple syrup in a small saucepan over low heat, remove from the heat, and stir in the powdered sugar until smooth. Drizzle over the cookies, top with chopped pecans and bacon, and let set about 1 hour.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Use clarified bacon grease. Strained, clean grease creams smoothly; gritty pan drippings make greasy cookies.
- Respect the chill. Two hours minimum, or the cookies spread thin and crisp instead of thick and chewy.
- Cook the bacon topping extra crispy. Soft bacon turns chewy on the icing; shattering crisp bacon stays crunchy for days.
- Underbake by a hair. Pull them when the centers still look soft; they finish setting on the hot sheet.
- Ice on a rack with parchment below. The drips fall through instead of pooling around the cookies.
- Add the toppings while the icing is wet. Pecans and bacon stick to wet icing and fall right off dry icing, the same timing rule as our almond cookies glaze.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
These maple bacon cookies own the brunch table. Serve them next to a stack of pancakes and coffee, or slide a few onto the dessert plate after a breakfast for dinner night and watch them outshine the main course.
On a cookie tray, they are the wildcard that gets discussed. Pair them with our meltaway lemon cookies and cream cheese cookies so there is a bright, a creamy, and a smoky sweet option in every handful.
They also make a fantastic edible gift. Box them with a few of our banana cream cheese muffins for a breakfast lover care package nobody returns.
Maple Bacon Cookies FAQs
Imagine a chewy brown sugar cookie with deep maple flavor, a smoky savory undertone from the bacon grease, and a sweet salty crunch of icing, pecans, and crispy bacon on top. They taste like Sunday breakfast and dessert in one bite, sweet first, salty finish.
You can substitute an equal amount of softened butter and the cookies will still be chewy and maple forward, but you lose the signature smoky depth. A middle path: use half butter, half bacon grease. Just never use liquid bacon fat; it should be solid, like softened butter.
Pour the warm (not hot) grease through a fine strainer or coffee filter into a clean jar, and store it in the fridge for up to 3 months. The recipe needs a half cup, about what 1 pound of bacon renders. Jarred bacon grease from the store works perfectly too.
The cookies themselves keep airtight at room temperature for 3 days. Because of the bacon topping, we move them to the fridge after that, where they hold up to a week. Let them sit out 10 minutes before serving so the chewy texture comes back.
Freeze the baked, un-iced cookies up to 3 months, then thaw, ice, and top fresh. The dough also freezes beautifully as scooped balls; bake from frozen at 350 degrees with 1 to 2 extra minutes, then finish with icing, pecans, and bacon.
Bacon grease melts at a lower temperature than butter, so warm dough spreads fast. Chill the dough a full 2 hours, keep waiting dough in the fridge between batches, and always scoop onto cool baking sheets. If your kitchen runs hot, chill the scooped balls 10 extra minutes.
Want one more bar for the dessert tray? Our cheesecake snickerdoodle bars are creamy, cinnamon sugar perfection.
For a cozy fall treat, whip up our apple cinnamon cream cheese roll ups.
Easy Maple Bacon Cookies Recipe (with Maple Icing)
Ingredients
- 2 1/3 cups flour 290g all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup bacon grease like John Gordon’s Bacon Up or clarified homemade bacon grease
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon maple extract or use more vanilla extract
- MAPLE ICING Optional
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- ¼ cup bacon optional
Instructions
- Directions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda. Set aside.2 1/3 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to cream the bacon grease and brown sugar together until smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Add the egg and beat on high for another 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl on sides and bottom. Add maple syrup, vanilla extract, and maple extract. Beat on high speed until well combined.½ cup bacon grease, 1 cup dark brown sugar, 1 large egg, ⅓ cup pure maple syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon maple extract
- Add flour and baking soda mix to wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours, maximum 3 days.
- After chilled
- If you have chilled the dough for longer than 2 hours, set out at room temperature for about 30 minutes before working with it.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Use a 1 ½ tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop out balls of cookie dough. Optionally, roll dough balls for more perfectly shaped cookies. Place dough balls on cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between each cookie. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until lightly browned at the edges and soft in the center.
- Remove cookie sheets from the oven and cool on a cooling rack.
- Optional Icing
- In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter and syrup together, whisking occasionally. When butter has melted, remove from heat and add confectioners’ sugar, stirring until combined and smooth. Drizzle over cookies and allow to cool completely, about 1 hour depending on your environment.2 tablespoons unsalted butter, ½ cup pure maple syrup, 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, ½ cup chopped pecans , ¼ cup bacon
Notes
- Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl first so the flour mixture and baking soda (your leavening agent) are evenly distributed.
- Cream the bacon grease and brown sugar until smooth—this is where a hand mixer or paddle attachment in the bowl of a stand mixer really helps.
- Chill the cookie dough as written; it’s the key to cookies that don’t spread too much on the lined baking sheet.
- If the dough chilled longer than 2 hours, let it sit at room temperature briefly so it’s easier to scoop.
- Bake until the edges look lightly golden brown and the centers still look soft—carryover heat finishes them on the cookie sheets.
- For the maple glaze, whisk until smooth and drizzle while the cookies are cool so the glaze sets nicely on top.
Nutrition
Love This Recipe?
Follow @ThisSillyGirlsKitchen on Instagram and @danadevolk on Pinterest for more!
These look and taste amazing – Thanks for the recipe!