These chocolate cookies are my absolute favorite. They're one of the only cookies I make that come out perfect every single time. The original chocolate cookie recipe comes from Nigella Lawson's book, Nigella Express, which is one of my all time favorite cook books. The original recipe calls for a mint glaze to go over the top of them (they're almost like thin mints!), but I have added bacon and chocolate chunks to make them even better.

And the best part? These cookies are made with cocoa, which means they come together quickly and you don't have to fiddle with measuring chocolate and melting it. And, you know, bacon. BACON.

Bacon and chocolate are BFFs.

Step 1: Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, softened but not melted
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips or chunks
1/2 cup crumbled bacon, plus more for topping (roughly 8 slices)

If you're not feeling especially bacon-y (What is wrong with you?!) feel free to omit the bacon and use 1 cup of chocolate chips/chunks instead. If you leave out the bacon add 1/4 teaspoon salt to the cookies.

It took me six slices of bacon to get 1/2 cup, and 2-3 more slices to top the cookies. And then more, because I was snacking.

You'll also need baking sheets, parchment paper and an oven set to 350 F. This recipes makes around 24 cookies, depending on how much batter you eat while making them. :D

Step 2: Mix the Wet and Dry Ingredients Separately

Combine the flour, baking powder and cocoa in a bowl and mix well with a fork.

Cream the butter and brown sugar together, and then add in the egg and vanilla. Mix just until smooth and creamy. Don't overmix this - otherwise the butter will overheat and melt too much.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Step 3: Add the Dry to the Wet

And mix, mix, mix. This is a pretty stiff batter, so it will take a little elbow grease. You want to mix just until it comes together and is a nice uniform dark brown color with no dry spots.

Step 4: Mix in the Bacon and Chocolate and Bake!

Using a spatula, mix in the chocolate and bacon.

If you have a tiny and very warm kitchen like I do, this is a good time to pop the cookie dough in the freezer for a moment while you clean up a bit. Just a few minutes in the freezer will take a warm dough and get it back to a nice cool temp. If you try to bake it when it's too warm you'll get crazy spreading cookies. :)

Line a baking sheet with parchment and measure out rounded tablespoons worth of cookie dough onto the sheet.

You can easily do 12 cookies per sheet - this dough doesn't spread too badly!

Bake at 350 F for 12 minutes. As soon as the cookies are out, press a small amount of bacon onto the top of each cookie.

Step 5: Enjoy!

Because of the bacon, I'd store these in the fridge if they're going to be around for any length of time longer than a few hours. But they probably won't be. :D