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Home » Bacon Desserts » Bacon Fat Ginger Cookies with Fresh Ginger

Bacon Fat Ginger Cookies with Fresh Ginger

These old-fashioned bacon fat ginger cookies with fresh ginger are soft, chewy, spicy, smoky and sweet …oh, my!

The easy recipe makes old-fashioned ginger cookies with amazingly spicy flavor thanks to the inclusion of three kinds of ginger: fresh ginger juice, candied ginger, and dried ginger.

Adding a bit of bacon grease gives these cookies a hint of smoky flavor you’ll love and makes them perfectly soft and chewy. (Bacon fat is also the secret ingredient in our Maple Bacon Cupcakes recipe.)

Five ginger bacon grease cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bacon grease cookies are soft, chewy, and flavored with ginger and molasses

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To prepare the bacon fat for baking, I poured the cooled grease through a regular wire strainer and let it sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes to allow the particles to settle. Then I re-poured it through a double layer of cheesecloth into a glass container. I covered and chilled it because I wasn’t going to use it right away, but if you’re going to bake with it right away you can skip that step. (Read more about rendering bacon fat and what to do with bacon grease.)

This recipe has one fussy step, and that’s peeling and grating fresh ginger for the dough. Adding fresh ginger gives the cookies a hint of fresh, spicy flavor that I think pushes this recipe over the top.

Ingredients Needed

  • A piece of fresh ginger – also called a ginger stem
  • Butter (salted or unsalted is fine – your preference)
  • Rendered, strained bacon grease, room temperature
  • Brown sugar (light or dark is fine. We used dark.)
  • A large egg
  • Unsulfured molasses (or substitute regular molasses)
  • All-purpose flour
  • Baking soda
  • Salt
  • Cinnamon
  • Powdered ginger
  • Powdered cloves
  • Chopped crystallized ginger
  • crystal sugar or granulated sugar for sprinkling

Equipment Needed

You don’t need any fancy equipment to make this recipe!

  • Cutting board
  • Sharp knife
  • Vegetable peeler
  • Box grater
  • Measuring cup
  • Mixing bowl
  • Silicone spatula
  • Baking sheet
  • Parchment paper

Step by Step Instructions

Let’s get started, shall we? Select one or two pieces of ginger at the store that are a total of about 4 inches in length. Look for firm, unblemished ginger. Here’s what I used:

Fresh ginger for bacon fat cookies.

Use a vegetable peeler to remove the outer skin…

Peeling fresh ginger.

…so that it looks like this:

Peeled fresh ginger.

Next, arrange a grater over a plate and grate the ginger using the side of the grater with smaller holes:

Grating fresh ginger on a metal box grater.

When you’re done, you’ll have a little pile of grated ginger like this:

A pile of freshly grated ginger on a white plate.

Now, squeeze the ginger with your hands into a measuring cup to extract all of the fresh ginger juice:

Freshly squeezed ginger juice in a glass measuring cup.

If you prefer, you can press the grated ginger on a strainer set over a measuring cup to extract the juice. Compost or discard the remaining ginger fibers, and pour the ginger juice in a large bowl. Now you’re going to add the bacon grease. Since I had refrigerated my strained bacon grease,  I removed it from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for an hour to soften. You could also microwave it on low for 30-40 seconds to soften it.

Here’s how it looks:

Rendered bacon grease for Ginger Cookies.

Add the bacon fat to the bowl along with the softened butter.

Combining bacon grease and butter in a blue mixing bowl.

Blend it together:

Stirring together bacon fat and softened butter in a mixing bowl with a red spatula.

Now mix in the brown sugar, egg and molasses:

Stirring the batter for bacon grease ginger cookies in a mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, powdered ginger, and ground cloves.

Adding the flour mixture to the wet mixture with a wire whisk in a mixing bowl.

Now, finely chop the candied ginger and add it to the flour mixture.

A pile of chopped candied ginger.

Stir the two mixtures together, cover and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour. Remove from the refrigerator and use a dining teaspoon to roll the dough in 1 1/2-inch balls. Roll in sugar (demerra sugar, sparkling sugar or granulated sugar all work well) if you like, and arrange on a parchment-lined cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

Seven cookie dough balls on parchment paper.

Bake until cookies are just done and barely starting to brown around the edges, about 10 to 12 minutes. Do not overbake. Sprinkle with a little more sugar if you like, and remove to a wire rack after cookies have cooled for 2 minutes.

Close up of ginger bacon grease cookie sprinkled with baking sugar.

Yum!

Because they contain bacon fat, I suggest storing the cookies in a covered container in the refrigerator. They taste best if they’re eaten within 5 days.

If you enjoy this Candied Ginger Bacon Fat Cookies recipe, I’d be thrilled if you clicked the little stars below and gave the recipe a 5-star rating. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Let’s make cookies! Here’s the easy recipe:

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Five ginger bacon grease cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet

Bacon Fat Ginger Cookies with Fresh Ginger

Eliza Cross
These old-fashioned ginger cookies feature fresh ginger, crystallized ginger, spices, butter, bacon grease, and sparkling sugar, all in one soft, chewy cookie!
5 from 7 votes
Prep Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Additional Time 5 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 32 minutes
Course Bacon Recipes
Cuisine American
Servings 36 cookies
Calories 96 kcal

Equipment

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1- inch by 2-inch piece fresh ginger peeled and finely grated
  • 7 tablespoons butter softened
  • 1/4 cup rendered strained bacon grease, room temperature
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup unsulfured molasses or substitute regular molasses
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon powdered ginger
  • 3/4 teaspoon powdered cloves
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
  • crystal sugar or granulated sugar for sprinkling

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
  • In a medium bowl, squeeze the juice from the grated ginger (compost or discard remaining fibers). Add the butter, bacon grease, brown sugar, egg and molasses and stir until well blended.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture and stir until well blended. Sprinkle with the chopped crystallized ginger and mix well. Refrigerate, covered, for 1 hour.
  • Roll in balls using a dining teaspoon. Roll in crystal sugar or granulated sugar and arrange on the prepared cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
  • Bake until just starting to brown around the edges, about 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Store cookies in a covered container in the refrigerator. They taste best if they’re eaten within 5 days. Makes about 3 dozen.

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Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 96kcalCarbohydrates: 15gProtein: 1gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 12mgSodium: 124mgSugar: 9g
Nutritional Information Disclosure
Keyword bacon fat, bacon grease, bacon grease cookies, cookies, ginger cookies
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More Bacon Fat Cookies

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Bacon Sugar Cookies

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For more ways to use delicious bacon fat, you might enjoy:

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Large ginger cookies with fresh ginger and bacon fat on a parchment lined baking tray.

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Enjoy!

~Your friends at BENSA

eliza cross

About Eliza & BENSA

BENSA was founded by bacon expert Eliza Cross, author of more than a dozen cookbooks. She has written three bacon cookbooks including the award-winning Bacon Beans and Beer, the bestselling 101 Things to Do With Bacon, and the popular sequel 101 More Things to Do With Bacon. Learn more about BENSA...

7 thoughts on “Bacon Fat Ginger Cookies with Fresh Ginger”

  1. 5 stars
    I’ve never had cookies made with bacon fat, but it makes so much sense! I love the combination of sweet and salty, and fat like this usually makes better baked goods than even butter does.

    Reply
  2. 5 stars
    Oh My! Look at all that delicious ginger in these cookies! Really liking the extra oomph with the bacon fat. Can’t wait to try these.

    Reply

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