Brown-Butter Bacon Shortbread with Bourbon Maple Glaze

At a recent food swap I traded jam for browned butter shortbread. It was out of this world. Within minutes of finishing the very last crumb, I was conspiring to make my own. The gal with whom I swapped was kind enough to share the recipe
from Gourmet magazine.
insert long sigh and whimper mourning the loss of this fabulous magazine
While browning the butter, I was reminded a bit of the smell of bacon.
caveat
I have been known to smell bacon at a kosher deli; I’m slightly obsessed. Chocolate-covered bacon is where I stop the madness; don’t love it, don’t like it. Not bacon’s best move.
But here is what I do love: these crispy, nutty, salty, with throat-warming bourbon glaze, cookies.

Brown-Butter Bacon Shortbread with Bourbon-Maple Glaze

*this recipe only slightly resembles its inspiration. the addition of bacon, bacon fat, nuts, and glaze are all mine
shortbread
4 oz browned butter-cooled to solid in fridge
2 oz bacon grease–cooled to solid in fridge
1/2 tsp grey sea salt (kosher is fine)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup bacon–cooked crispy and finely chopped
1 1/3 cup+ 3 Tbs all purpose flour
1 cup toasted and chopped pecans
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the cooled butter, cooled bacon grease and brown sugar. Add the salt and vanilla and stir to mix. Mix in the bacon bits, then the flour. mix only to fully incorporate the flour, do not over mix. Remove the dough from mixer and form into a cylinder on plastic wrap. Roll the dough into the chopped nuts, cover and place in refrigerator. Let rest in fridge for an hour. When ready to bake, heat oven to 350f. Slice the roll into 1/4″ slices and place on lined cookie sheet, leaving about 1/2″ between each cookie. these will spread a bit. Allow to bake about 10-12 minutes or until they start to brown on the bottom. Remove from oven and let cool. Once cool, drizzle with glaze.

bourbon maple glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp maple syrup
up to 1 Tbs bourbon
Place powdered sugar in a bowl. Stir in the maple syrup. Add bourbon 1 tsp at a time until it reaches a nice runny consistency, that will barely hold its shape. Pour into a piping bag or use a spoon to decoratively drizzle over the cookies. Allow to sit until the glaze has firmed up.