Last week, the Washington Post Food Section focused on holiday cookies (you can check out the online version of the Post's gallery of holiday cookie recipes here). I immediately noticed a recipe for "Haute-meal Cookies" from chef Michel Richard, the man behind D.C. restaurants Central and Citronelle. Richard also just published a dessert cookbook, Sweet Magic, which is the source for this recipe. I was excited to see any cookie recipe from Michel Richard, but when I saw that the recipe included bacon, I was instantly sold!
The haute-meal cookie is an oatmeal cookie with bacon and pecans, flavored with a touch of cinnamon and an extra sprinkle of fleur de sel on top. I made the dough, and chilled it for an hour as specified. I flattened my balls of dough before baking, and the cookies barely spread at all in the oven. I could hardly wait to taste one when the first pan came out of the oven. When I took a bite, all I could taste was abject disappointment.
This cookie was incredibly bland and also had a heavy and unappealing texture. I wouldn't have thought it possible, but even with the bacon and pecans, the cookie had almost no flavor. As I was trying to figure out what I had done wrong, I looked back over the recipe and realized for the first time that (1) the cookie dough doesn't include any salt; and (2) the recipe also doesn't include any leavening. I think the assumption is that the bacon in the cookie and the fleur de sel on top will contribute all of the salt necessary for the cookie, but I think the batter might need some salt as well. I'm not sure what the deal is with the lack of leavening.
While these cookies didn't cross the line from bland to affirmatively bad tasting, I thought that they were essentially a waste of time, calories, and perhaps most importantly, some good Niman Ranch bacon. I couldn't even bear to take them to the office to share with co-workers, so the cookies went into the garbage.
I still can't figure out how bacon could go so wrong!
Recipe: "Haute-meal Cookies" from Sweet Magic: Easy Recipes for Delectable Desserts, by Michel Richard.
The haute-meal cookie is an oatmeal cookie with bacon and pecans, flavored with a touch of cinnamon and an extra sprinkle of fleur de sel on top. I made the dough, and chilled it for an hour as specified. I flattened my balls of dough before baking, and the cookies barely spread at all in the oven. I could hardly wait to taste one when the first pan came out of the oven. When I took a bite, all I could taste was abject disappointment.
This cookie was incredibly bland and also had a heavy and unappealing texture. I wouldn't have thought it possible, but even with the bacon and pecans, the cookie had almost no flavor. As I was trying to figure out what I had done wrong, I looked back over the recipe and realized for the first time that (1) the cookie dough doesn't include any salt; and (2) the recipe also doesn't include any leavening. I think the assumption is that the bacon in the cookie and the fleur de sel on top will contribute all of the salt necessary for the cookie, but I think the batter might need some salt as well. I'm not sure what the deal is with the lack of leavening. 
While these cookies didn't cross the line from bland to affirmatively bad tasting, I thought that they were essentially a waste of time, calories, and perhaps most importantly, some good Niman Ranch bacon. I couldn't even bear to take them to the office to share with co-workers, so the cookies went into the garbage.I still can't figure out how bacon could go so wrong!
Recipe: "Haute-meal Cookies" from Sweet Magic: Easy Recipes for Delectable Desserts, by Michel Richard.
Comments
Ha Ha! The word verification for this post is 'degest' which seems rather apt for this post, if it was a real word!
I'm still bummed thinking about this cookie!