BACON CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES WITH MAPLE CINNAMON GLAZE

1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks)
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon hazelnut or ½ teaspoon almond extract
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup dark or semisweet chocolate chips
1 cups crumbled cooked bacon (about 1 pound), plus another ½ pound of cooked strips that will be cut into 1-2″ strips for placing on top of the cookie later. (Use high quality bacon!  I use applewood smoked)

Maple-Cinnamon Glaze (recipe follows)

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugars, extracts and eggs until creamy. In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir together.

Dough will be slightly soft. If you want a more cake like cookie, add another 1/2 cup of flour. Mix in chocolate chips and crumbled bacon. Stir until well integrated.

Place dough on a sheet of wax paper and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Remove dough from fridge. Pinch off 1 ½ -inch pieces and roll into balls. Set dough balls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten dough balls in the center slightly with your fingers. Bake about 10 minutes, or until the dough starts to turn golden brown. Allow cookies to cool on a cooling rack while you make the glaze.

Spread a small amount of glaze on top of each cookie and top with a small piece (1 to 1 ½ inches) of crisp bacon. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Maple-Cinnamon Glaze: Mix 2 cups powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon maple extract, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and ½ teaspoon cinnamon with enough water to make a thick glaze, about 3 tablespoons. Mix all ingredients together until smooth and creamy. If lumpy, use a whisk.

..apply Maple-Cinnamon frosting with a little more bacon on top so everyone knows what they are getting into!

* Oven Fried Bacon: cooking all that bacon easy, and flat:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees, place a rack into a cookie sheet, and the bacon onto the rack to allow grease to drip away from the bacon into the cookie sheet.  Takes ~25 minutes to cook 1 lbs of bacon crispy.  Also makes it easier to dispose of the bacon grease after it cools a bit.

This was originally from NeverBashfulWithButter.com, but, is no longer available that I can find.  Whoever she was, she had a great site with awesome recipes… I miss that place!

The Lobster Shack.

The entire point of the trip…to get a lobster roll!  It was a long drive, but it was really worth it!  Plan better to show up for the strawberry festival at the end of June….

It’s a nice drive out to the end, past the Two Lights State Park – I’m assuming there’s light houses there, but the amount of rain made me just bypass that and go for the food!

My Lobster Roll with a side of coleslaw.  It is tasty!  I ate the pickles first, then smeared the mayo in a bit and took a bite!  I could eat this regularly – too bad it’s not an option in Loveland!  The meat is cold, the bun is warmly toasted, the mayo isn’t overwhelming at all.

Very worthwhile to get it!  I’ll be back, at some point…and stay longer in the area!

Go get yourself a Lobster Roll, I recommend the Lobster Shack in Cape Elizabeth town!

Got the San Antonio rather late on Monday and The Alamo isn’t open late.  The river walk was near, so I headed over and got in a good stroll along the river walk.  Down one side and the other.  I had dinner at one of the restaurants that was open.  Good food, but, service at 11 at night is always a bit suspect.

In the morning, I walked around the Alamo a few times as it doesn’t open at 7am when I got up, but at 9am.  So I wandered the river walk again…

The Alamo is free, so that is a bonus.  Interesting that it seems much smaller than I would have originally though.  But, I guess it was an outpost along the river in the middle of nowhere for the most part.  Glad I visited the Alamo!  They have a bunch of interesting artifacts on display, and the grounds are nice.  The Live Oak tree that was transplanted still growing away.

From San Antonio I headed to Snook, TX (below) for my Chicken Fried Bacon lunch!

Sodalaks, Home of Chicken Fried Bacon!

After having spent the net in San Antonio, and visiting the Alamo… I was off to get a lunch treat.  We’ve read about it or seen the videos on YouTube for Sodalaks Chicken Fried Bacon….  be wary of the impostor place called Sodalaks Beefmasters or something.  Go to Snook, Texas.  Get the good service!

I drove around for 2 hours of of San Antonio to get to Snook.  I then drove right passed the resturaunt and did a u-turn.  I ordered up my chicken fried bacon, and a cheeseburger with the works.

The chicken fried bacon comes smokin’ hot from the deep frier.  It’s not at all greasy, and comes with a tasty side of country gravy.  I dipped and bit!  The gravy tastes great!  Not so much bacon flavor, so, there’s that.  If you’re near, you should try it.  But…I wouldn’t plan a vacation around it was worth my visit on my way East!  Would I do it again?  Yes…if I happen to be near.  The service was great, friendly and fast!  The burger was fantabulous!  I pondered getting teh steak, but, I just didn’t see myself downing a 11oz sirloin and driving 12+ hours.  I’d highly recomend dining at th Country Inn at Snook, Texas!

Uneventful diving has been nice.  But it’s been raining since Tennessee for the most part, and that sucks.

Hope you’re having fun!

The Alamo is a bit small compared to all the hotels and buildings around it, but I’ll go grab a quick tour then off to Snook, TX!

Don’t know where I’ll be staying tonight…lets hope they have some WiFi.   I’ll get to my cousins in North Carolina (or is it south? hmmm) Wednesday afternoon.

Hopefully have some pictures tonight.

Had good sushi last night with my friend and enjoying a warm day in Phoenix. I forgot how fleeping hot it is here.
Going for Mexican food tonight, and then to meet up with some other friends at Gelato – if it’s findable!

All in all…having a good relaxing time!

I head out Monday morning, and I’m pondering bypassing the Chicken fried bacon as it might make it impossible to get to Maine for a lobster roll…I’ll make the decision in the morning.

I just finished packing…and now I’m going to nap.  As I’ve driven the road to Phoenix so many times through the Four Corners region…don’t expect much until like Monday.

Now…you have fun working this week, because I’m on vacation!

Hopefully I find hotels and have ‘net access!

You’ve seen the commercial for the Chase ATM’s where the guy just enters his check and it reads it and takes care of the deposit?  Well this morning I made an ATM deposit and they’d updated the ATM I use with that technology.  I must say I like it.  No more stupid envelope or having to enter a million things.

It took it, scanned it, the OCR got the deposit amount correct, displayed the check image on screen and asked for confirmation.  Worked swimmingly well.

I know some of my friends have issues with Chase…but, I’ve no complaints.  And, they aren’t my only bank where I have an account, either.

Happy trails!