Caramel Apple Oatmeal Cookie & Bourbon Ice Cream Sandwiches… with Bacon!

I’ll bet you thought I was going to come at you today with some patriotic-themed, tri-colored dessert that was all hopped up on sprinkles and glitter to celebrate the holiday.

Nope.

The 4th of July just isn’t one of my favorite holidays.

Yes, I’m glad to be an American and to have my independence. I just don’t care to celebrate it fighting crowds of people to walk one mile to stand for 45 minutes all to watch about 10 minutes of fireworks and then fight that same crowd of people back a mile to my car so I can drive in traffic all the way home in the rain.

Every year people. Every year.

And can we talk about “those people” who are still lighting fireworks and making all kinds of noise at 2 in the morning as if no one in the neighborhood has to get up early for work the next day?

Newsflash people: The 4th is a holiday. The 5th is just another day.

Personally, I’d rather celebrate my independence in stretchy pants… and with bourbon!

I’d rather celebrate everything in stretchy pants and with bourbon if we’re being truthful here, and I think that we are.

So seeing as how it’s a holiday and everything, I figured, why not celebrate my way!

So I put on some stretchy pants, broke out the bourbon, and made us a treat.

Happy 4th!

Bourbon & Bacon Ice Cream:

2 cups heavy cream

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2-3 tbsp bourbon

1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

2 to 3 strips of cooked, cooled, and crumbled bacon

Directions:

With a stand mixer, electric mixer or a whisk, whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks.  Add the bourbon, vanilla, and slowly pour in the evaporated milk. Stir gently or fold until combined.

I usually use my stand mixer and just let it run on low while I add the sweetened condensed milk, then I crank it back up for a couple of seconds to make sure the peaks remain stiff.

Fold in the crumbled bacon.

Put mixture into a container with a tight-fitting lid and pop into the freezer for 6 hours or until frozen.

I usually separate the ice cream mixture so I can flavor half for my kids and the other half for us grown folk.

If you’re making an entire batch of bourbon ice cream, you may need more than 3 tablespoons. Just keep tasting as adding as you see fit. Be advised though that the more alcohol you add, the faster your ice cream will melt as it did in my pics.

If bourbon isn’t your thing remember, the sky is the limit with this ice cream. You can pretty much add in anything before you pop it into the freezer so go nuts. Add fruit, nuts, chocolate, sprinkles, birthday cake, brownie pieces, candy, cookies, whatever!

Caramel Apple Oatmeal Cookies

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp apple pie spice (optional)

3 cups quick-cooking oats

1 cup dehydrated apples

1 1/2  cups caramel pieces or chips (I used the individual wrapped caramels and cut them into smaller pieces)

Directions:

In the bowl of your stand mixer or with an electric mixer, beat the butter until nice and fluffy. Then add both sugars and mix until combined. The mixture should be light in color and fluffy.

Add the eggs and vanilla and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and apple pie spice.

Add to the wet mixture and stir until everything is barely incorporated. It’s important to not over mix or you’ll end up with tough cookies.

Fold in the oats, apples, and caramel pieces just until everything is incorporated.

Pop the mixture in the fridge for an hour. There’s a lot of butter in this dough and giving it a chance to chill will help to make sure that your cookies set up nicely in the oven.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and use a tablespoon measure to scoop out balls of dough.

Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silpat or lightly grease it and place your dough balls a couple of inches apart.

Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Do not over bake, you want these cookies to be soft.

Also, give the cookies a minute or two to set up once you pull them from the oven. Caramel turns to liquid when it’s heated and if you try to remove your cookies from the pan right out of the oven, they may fall apart.

Once the cookies have completely cooled, fill with ice cream and enjoy!

* I just wanted to add that this is my 200th post! Thanks to everyone who stops by my little space on the internet regularly to see what I’m up to. I’m sure there are plenty of other more important things that you could be doing with your day (like folding laundry) so the fact that you choose to avoid your responsibilities and visit here for a little while instead makes my heart happy.

Tags: bacon, bourbon, caramel, cookies, ice cream, oats