So last year's BBQ cookoff at Finn's I made these really delicious BBQ pork cupcakes. They were mindblowing in that crazy sweet and salty bbq porky kind of way and one of my favorite creations that I kind of pieced together from here and there. Since they won the cookoff last year, I felt like it would be cheating if I brought them again this year. So I set out to think up some other bbq-y desserts when I stumbled upon this lovely post from Big Butz BBQ Sauce on shortbread cookies with bacon and bbq sauce.

They sounded pretty dang cool so I incorporated the idea into my go-to shortbread recipe and I feel like the end result was a pretty cool bacony bbq cookie--salty and sweet and crumbly in your mouth deliciousness.

BBQ Bacon Shortbread
adapted from Big Butz BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup corn meal
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
3-4 tablespoons bbq sauce (I used Stubb's mesquite)
1 batch Pig candy (recipe follows)

Instructions

1. In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the salt. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy and lighter in color, about one minute. Add in the sugar and beat until smooth, about another two minutes. Beat in the liquid smoke, bbq sauce and pig candy. Stir in the flour until incorporated. Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350F. On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to a 1/4 inch-ish thick. Cut with a lightly floured cookie cutter. Put them on the baking sheet and then in the fridge for a few minutes (it firms up the dough so the cookies will keep their shape when they're baking). Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Pig Candy
Ingredients
4 strips thick cut bacon (I like Wright's Applewood Smoked)
1/3 cup-ish brown sugar
chili powder
cayenne pepper
salt

Instructions
Cut the strips into small-ish pieces (just make sure to keep them all about the same size) and place in skillet over medium-high heat. Cook bacon slightly then add sugar and season to taste. Stir around to allow sugar to melt and coat the bacon bits. You want the sugar to get hot enough to make the sugar melt and cover them in a sticky toffee/caramel-like coating, but not too hot (it can burn easily if you aren't paying attention).  Let cool. Its best to make the pig candy the same day as the cookie dough as it does not keep well on its own. Incorporated into the dough, it will keep much better well wrapped in the fridge or the freezer.

~Happy Baking~