Kooky Breakfast Cookies

These Kooky Breakfast Cookies are salty, sweet, crunchy, and completely addictive. Bacon and corn flakes make them unlike any cookie you’ve had before — and once you try one, you’ll understand why they disappear so fast.

Why You’ll Love This

Sweet meets salty — the bacon adds a smoky, savory hit that makes every bite interesting
That crunch doesn’t quit — the corn flakes stay crispy even the next day, which almost never happens in a baked good
Fast and simple — no chilling, no browning butter, no fuss; start to finish in under 40 minutes
Great for bacon lovers — this is their cookie and they will know it immediately
Surprisingly versatile — works as a breakfast treat, an afternoon snack, or a dessert that makes people ask questions

A Note on the Ingredients

Real bacon. Please. Not the fake crumbles in the bag, not bacon bits. The artificial stuff will make your kitchen smell faintly like a gas station, and I say that as someone who bought it by accident one time and really committed to making it work. It didn’t work.
Cook your bacon until it’s crispy, let it cool on a paper towel, and then crumble it yourself. I usually cook a little extra because I eat some while I’m crumbling and I don’t count that.
Corn flakes — the regular kind, not frosted. Frosted makes it too sweet and you lose the savory thing you’re going for. I’ve always used Kellogg’s but I’ve also used the store brand and it’s fine, honestly. Don’t tell anybody I said that.
For the fat, the recipe says margarine or butter and I’ve made it both ways. Butter is better. I don’t think there’s a world where margarine is better than butter for a cookie. I’m sure someone will disagree with me.

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted (I do actually sift it — it’s one of those things I’m too superstitious to skip)
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup real bacon crumbles — from maybe 5 or 6 strips, depending on how thick they are
½ cup butter, softened (I pull it out about an hour before, or I microwave it for 10 seconds and pray)
¾ cup sugar — I’ve used white, I’ve used brown, I’ve used a mix. Brown gives you something a little deeper but either works
1 large egg
2 cups corn flakes — don’t crush them before you measure, you want them whole

How to Make Them

Preheat your oven to 350. This one actually matters — don’t put them in before it’s heated or they spread funny. I’ve done it. They spread funny.
Sift your flour and baking soda together in a bowl, then stir in your bacon crumbles. The bacon goes in with the dry ingredients, which felt wrong to me the first time but it works.
In a separate bowl, cream together your butter, sugar, and egg. I use a hand mixer for this but you could do it by hand if you’re patient or if you’ve had too much coffee and need to do something physical. You want it smooth and pale — give it a couple minutes.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir it together. Don’t overthink it. Then fold in your corn flakes. This is the part that looks alarming — the batter gets very full very fast and you’ll think it’s too much and it’s fine, it’s not too much.
Blend it just until everything is incorporated. Don’t overbeat — stop when it comes together.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto your baking sheet. I use a small cookie scoop but a teaspoon works. They don’t spread a lot so you don’t need huge gaps between them.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Mine usually hit the right spot at about 13 — golden on the bottom, just barely set on top. They look underdone when they come out. They’re not underdone. Leave them on the pan for a few minutes before you try to move them or they’ll fall apart on you, and that is a sad way for a cookie to end.

Variations

I’ve seen people add a small handful of shredded cheddar to the batter, which sounds absolutely insane to me, and I have not tried it, and apparently they’re incredible. I’m not sure I’m ready.
I once tried them with maple-flavored bacon, thinking it would amplify the whole breakfast thing, and it was too much. Too sweet, too loud. Regular smoky bacon is the move.
If you can’t do pork, turkey bacon is said to work okay. I haven’t tested that personally. I take no responsibility.

Leftovers

Store them in an airtight container at room temperature and they keep well for a few days — three, maybe four. The corn flakes stay crunchier than you’d expect. I’ve left them on the counter in a bowl covered with plastic wrap like a heathen and they were fine the next morning. I ate two with my coffee and felt completely fine about it.
I don’t know that I’d freeze them, but I’ve also never had enough left over to find out.