My Virgin Kitchen

A combination of hazelnut and bacon in a cookie is a little unheard of, but once you make these you’ll see why it works. There’s definitely an autumnal vibe going on with these lovely soft cookies, which you can whip up in a flash.

8 rashers of streaky bacon, fat trimmed

100ml maple syrup, plus extra for the bacon and serving

110g unsalted butter

200g soft light brown sugar

1 large egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

250g plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g blanched hazelnuts, bashed roughly

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/Gas mark 4 and line a couple of baking sheets with baking parchment, as well as a smaller baking tray.

2. Lay the bacon on the lined tray and use a pastry brush to spread some maple syrup over all the rashers. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the tray, carefully turn the bacon over with some tongs, give another brush of maple syrup and return to the oven for another 10 minutes, or until fully cooked through. Remove from the oven and put to one side to cool (leave the oven on). When it’s cool enough to handle, chop the bacon into fine pieces with a sharp knife and put to one side.

3. Meanwhile make the cookie dough. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and smooth, then add the egg and vanilla extract and beat again to combine. Sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda and fold through with a metal spoon. Follow up with the hazelnuts and pieces of bacon, again folding through until completely mixed in.

4. Put heaped spoonfuls of the mixture on to the lined baking sheets. They will spread out during baking so space them well apart. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until just starting to brown around the edges. Remove from the oven, allow them to cool for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Brush maple syrup on top just before serving.

VIRGIN TIP

The nuts and bacon in this recipe are optional, so you can leave either or both out if you want. I sometimes bash the nuts roughly in a sealed bag before adding them to the mixture. Play around with it and put your own spin on the recipe.