Hi All! We’re really excited over here at SFB because today we’re doing our first cookbook review. This is something we have thought a lot about. We draw a lot of inspiration from cookbooks and thought we would share some of the books that stuck out to us. We thought that : Libbie Summer’s The Whole Hog Cookbook was super fitting for our first review because we are bacon fanatics. For those of you who don’t know Libbie Summer’s she’s the very talented food stylist for Food Network’s Paula Dean. When we received our copies of the book we were totally stoked by the title. It’s a great cookbook that really does live up to its title; it picks the pig apart from head to toe and even goes into offal meats, curing your own bacon and making your own leaf lard (great for pastry/pie doughs). It’s a great resource for somebody looking for delicious and informative pork recipes. The graphic design is also refreshing and simple, and super cute. Don’t forget to take a peek under the dust jacket!
What we found really interesting was how she was able to incorporate pork products into dessert recipes and still keep them tasty and simple. One of our favorite recipes is the Bacon Banana Cookies. These cookies are so good; they’re like bites of banana bread in cookie form with small burst of salty bacon. It’s a great sweet and salty combo. The cookies are topped with cinnamon-sugar before being baked and the added sweetness and crunch of the sugar and spice from the cinnamon add great flavor and texture to these soft, pillow-like cookies. We’ve included the recipe for these awesome cookies below…like seriously, they’re so good!
Overall we think this cookbook is filled with awesome and interesting pork recipes like Pork Belly Gyros, Citrus-Sugar Rubbed Ribs and Scottish Quail Eggs (similar to our Scotch Egg recipe over here on the blog!) It’s also a great cookbook to just flip through because of the beautiful photography and great layout design; we totally recommend this as a great holiday gift for the bacon and pork lovers in your life.
Bacon Banana Cookies
yields 30
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups of sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
4 bananas mashed (about 1 1/3 cups)
1/2 pound of bacon, cooked crisp, chopped
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and salt.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to cream together the butter and 1 cup of the sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until they are fully incorporated. Beat in the vanilla. Add the butter mixture to the flour mixture, then stir in the mashed bananas, beating well after each addition. Fold in the bacon.
4. Stir together the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and the remaining cinnamon. Set aside.
5. Drop the dough by heaping tablespoons into the prepared baking sheet 1 inch apart. Sprinkle generously with the cinnamon-sugar and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until slightly browned. Allow the cookies cool completely before storing in an airtight container. Cookies will keep for 5 to 7 days.
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi bacon. Hi banana. Hi cuteness. WELCOME TO MY MOUTH.
umm bacon & banana?! my mind is blown! must try this crazy cookie soon
happy friday!
bacon and banana… interesting. this i got to try!
Aww yeah. Awesome idea!
wow sounds interesting!! I got to try this!
Oh yeah. These seem like the perfect thing to make a christmas cookie box just that much better.
I dont eat meat so this book is not for me. But i do love design. And I have seen a few photos of the book here and there and just think it is amazing. The designer is an old colleagues of mine, Jennifer Muller. We worked together in New York. She is an amazing art director.
that just sounds like an awesome cookbook! will definitely have to check it out!
and BACON cookies? that’s amazing!
The cookbook sounds fab….OK! Birthday gift for ‘Brother who has it all’ has been discovered!!! He & I are both Big Bacon Heads! or shall I say Pork Heads! These are must try cookies! Many Thanx *!*
it looks like someone stole Ad Hoc’s idea and book cover..Thomas Keller is pissed somewhere.
Interesting combination of ingredients! Excited to try these.
first i thought, bacon banana WHAT? but now i’m intrigued…
Oh this sounds fantastic — pork is my favorite meat and bacon one of my favorite things in the world! Love the graphics too. And bacon banana cookies! Yes please!
A friend of mine and i have a crochet group on fridays. We attempted to make these and it turned into a banana bacon bunt cake. It was delish!!! We just couldn’t make it thick enough to be a cookie.
But the it was delish over vanilla ice cream
-Sierra
I made these Sunday. Sooooo delicious! Everyone love s them! Thanks for posting so many wonderful recipes, ladies.
Ummm, what?? Bacon cookies? I’m pretty sure nothing can go wrong with that. Where has this concept been all my life???
I made these…jazzed them up with 1/2 cup peanut butter that I added to butter/sugar mix and then a little maple drizzle. It’s now a breakfast cookie right?
I made these the other day, but I am at 7000 feet altitude. I’m pretty used to tweaking my baking for altitude and I did this way I usually would. They were delicious, but were like little individual banana bread biscuits. Very bready and not very cookie-y. Great for breakfast though!
I did try these. My son loved them so much I had to make a second batch to have enough to take to the picnic I was going to. I thought the batter was too thin, but went ahead and made a batch and they worked perfect if you use the parchment paper like the recipe says to do. Will definitely make them again.
Anybody else find this because of Breaking Bad? Trying this recipe right now!
Haha…love this!!
Haahaa YES!
I’m putting together a camping weekend for my husband who is turning 40. These cookies will go with my bacon theme! Awesome timing! Thanks!!
Gotta make these for my brother, my dad, my hubby and my hubby’s friend who loves Bacon. Okay just about everyone. If all turns out yummy, will get cookbook too. Thanks for posting. =)
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