Maple Bacon Sugar Cookies

I’d been hanging on to this recipe for at least a few years, and then when I was desperately trying to figure out what dessert to make, and happened to have half a container of lactose-free sour cream to use up, I thought, “Why not?” You don’t need a special occasion for these – treat yo’self.

The recipe makes double the dough you need. Because there’s only 1 egg, it would be complicated to halve (maybe using a flax egg?), so I made the recipe as is and froze half the dough. It’s not something I’m used to keeping on hand, and I’m pretty sure Future Me will clean out the freezer one day and be surprised that there’s sugar cookie dough in there. But hopefully she’ll be grateful, because the cookies were so good! They’re a great base for any frosting, obviously, you don’t *have* to use bacon. I changed the order of the steps to make it easier to follow. I also reduced the amount of sugar in the frosting (less maple syrup and no milk, which made the frosting a bit stiffer and therefore reduced the need for powdered sugar as well); the version below is mine. I got 23 cookies.

For the cookies (see note above)
4 cups flour + more for rolling out the dough (I used a 50-50 mix of white and white whole wheat flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. nutmeg
1 cup (2 sticks) lactose-free butter or margarine, softened
1 ½ cups sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
½ cup lactose-free sour cream

For the maple frosting
¼ cup lactose-free butter or margarine
1 pinch kosher salt
¼ cup maple syrup
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
crumbled crispy bacon, for topping (about 8 oz., or to taste)

For the cookies
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla; mix thoroughly. Add the sour cream; mix thoroughly. Add the dry ingredients in two parts, mixing thoroughly after each addition.

Divide the dough into two parts and wrap each in wax paper. Refrigerate at least 1 hour. For the amount of frosting in this recipe, you will only use half of the dough – you can freeze the second batch of dough for another use, or just double the frosting recipe.

Preheat oven to 400 °F. Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.

On a clean, floured surface, roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Roll the dough so it’s about ¼” to ½” thick and use your favorite cookie cutters to cut out shapes of the dough. (I just made round ones because I thought the bacon gave them enough pizzazz.) Use a spatula to move them to the prepared baking sheet with minimal damage.

Bake the cookies 6-8 minutes (the original recipe said 8-12, but in my oven, 8 was already a bit too much. Admittedly, this depends not just on the oven, but on the thickness and size of the cookies). You never want them to get too browned around the edges, or they’ll be too crunchy. Let cool completely before frosting.

For the maple frosting
Combine butter, salt, syrup, vanilla, and 1 cup of the sugar. Add remaining sugar and mix until smooth and creamy.

Frost the cooled cookies with the maple frosting, and sprinkle bacon bits on top. Cookies keep well in the fridge for a up to a week, or a few days at room temperature. Enjoy!