Bacon Banana Cookies

So I ended up with a few of ripe bananas in my fruit basket, but I'm tired of banana bread. For the next few days I looked at them, thinking about what to do with them. Until yesterday, when I stumbled across this recipe at epicurious.com, then something clicked in my head. 

Banana and bacon in the cookies? 

It's too good to be true! Must try! Now!

They turned out great. They're not your usual chewy chocolate chip cookie type, they're more cakey and crumbly, but yummy nevertheless. Now I'm just wondering, if I serve these with cold beer, wouldn't that be perfect?

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 bananas, mashed (about 1 1/3 cups)
• 1/2 pound bacon, cooked crisp, chopped

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and salt.
• In a medium mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to cream together butter and 1 cup of sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at the time, until they are fully incorporated. Beat in the vanilla. Add the butter mixture to the flour mixture, then stir in the mashed bananas, beating well after each addition. Fold in the bacon.
• Stir together the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the remaining cinnamon.
• Drop the dough by the heaping tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheet 1 inch apart. Sprinkle generously with the cinnamon-sugar and bake for 10-12 minutes, until slightly brown. Allow the cookies to cool completely before storing in an airtight container. Yield about 30 cookies.

Note: The recipe was taken originally from The Whole Hog Cookbook: Chops, Loin, Shoulder, Bacon, and All That Good Stuff authored by Libbie Summers.