Bacon Nation: 125 Irresistible Recipes (40 page)

9
Remove the baking dish from the oven, cover it loosely with aluminum foil, and let the bread pudding cool until set but still warm, about 20 minutes. (As it sets, the custard will continue to cook, which is why you take it out before it sets completely.) Cut the pudding into squares to serve. Leftover pudding can be cut into individual servings, covered loosely with paper towels, and refrigerated. Microwave it until warmed through, about 1 minute on high power.

Makes 7 to 8 slices of bacon

These caramelized slices of bacon are fine snacks on their own or as partners for pancakes and waffles. Or, serve them as finger appetizers by cutting each slice in half and stacking the pieces on a serving plate. Don’t think you have to stick strictly to the quantities of sugar and spice in our recipe. Go ahead and have some fun with this by working in your own selection and quantity of spices. Our recipe combines some curry and cinnamon and a little heat from red and black pepper to counter the sweetness of the sugar. Your house will smell like bacon heaven.

7 to 8 slices bacon, preferably applewood-smoked

2 packed tablespoons light brown sugar

1 teaspoon yellow curry powder, or more to taste

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Freshly ground black pepper

Cayenne pepper (optional)

1
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400˚F.

2
Line a large broiler pan with aluminum foil, shiny side down (this will make cleaning the pan easier). Place the rack of the broiler pan on top of the pan, then arrange the slices of bacon in a single layer on the rack.

3
Mix the brown sugar, curry powder, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Add black pepper and cayenne pepper, if using, to taste. Sprinkle the brown sugar-spice mixture liberally and evenly over each slice of bacon.

4
Bake the bacon until it is crisp and glazed, 10 to 14 minutes; the total baking time will depend on the thickness of the bacon slices. After about 6 minutes, rotate the broiler pan 180 degrees so the back of the broiler pan faces the front of the oven.

5
Let the bacon cool on the broiler rack for about 2 minutes before transferring to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Serve the bacon warm.

Chocolate-Peanut-Bacon Toffee

 

In This Chapter

Bacon Lace Cookies

Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies

Bacon Granola Bars

Bacon S’mores

Chocolate-Peanut-Bacon Toffee

Caramel Sauce with Bacon and Pecans

Rum Ice Cream with Candied Bacon Chips

Caramelized Pears and Candied Bacon Chips

Apple-Bacon Coffee Cake with Bourbon-Pecan Glaze

We’re not the first to discover that a salty, savory, aged product can help make sublime desserts. Hey, a chocolate chip cookie takes a bitter, fermented product (cacao), adds some salt and sugar, and the result is one of America’s great contributions to the world’s store of insanely great desserts. These days, with the bacon craze fully upon us, ingenious dessert makers are finding inventive ways to use bacon. Many food blogs and websites offer bacon in doughnuts, ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, and more. We explore our own favorite bacon desserts in this chapter, only scratching the surface of the possibilities. Traditionalists might say, “Bacon doesn’t belong in a dessert.” But hold off judgment until you make the Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies or the Apple-Bacon Coffe Cake, where bacon shows off its dessert potential.

The Bacon Lace Cookies are delicate, thin, brittle, and savory-sweet with finely chopped peanuts and crisp bacon. The Bacon Granola Bars, with their mix of cranberries, rolled oats, chopped nuts, and bacon, also work well as a breakfast or a trail snack and have just enough honey and brown sugar to satisfy your sweet craving.

Our Chocolate-Peanut-Bacon Toffee, one of our favorite recipes, binds layers of peanuts, bacon, and chocolate with a caramelized butter and sugar mixture. The toffee cools and hardens in the freezer, and then you snap it into uneven pieces of firm, delicious chocolate-peanut-bacon candy.

Makes about 2
½
dozen cookies

Lace cookies are sometimes known as florentines although, as best we can tell, they don’t come from Florence. They have a unique texture because of the lacy holes that create chewy, slightly crunchy surfaces for your tongue to play over as you munch on them. They are also pretty. We are working with the combination of sweet and salty and the result is paper-thin lacy cookies that never fail to get compliments. They are nice with an afternoon espresso or a scoop of ice cream but are indescribably delicious with ripe strawberries and sweet cream.

⅓ cup diced bacon (about 3 slices)

4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch-thick pieces

½ cup sugar

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 tablespoon heavy (whipping) cream

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour

⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon lightly salted cocktail peanuts, roughly or finely chopped

1
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line a 13- by 18-inch baking sheet with a nonstick baking liner, such as one made by Silpat.

2
Cook the bacon in a medium-size skillet over medium heat until lightly browned and most of the fat is rendered, 5 to 8 minutes, stirring often and adjusting the heat as necessary. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Set aside 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat in a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Pat the bacon with paper towels to blot any excess grease.

3
Add the butter, sugar, corn syrup, cream, and vanilla to the reserved bacon fat in the saucepan. Let the mixture come to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the batter is slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Stir in the peanuts and drained bacon.

4
Working in small batches, drop level teaspoons of batter about 3 inches apart on the lined baking sheet. (The batter will spread out into a thin 2- to 3-inch cookie so don’t overload the teaspoon.) Bake the cookies until they are golden and bubbly, 5 to 6 minutes.

5
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet until you can pry up an edge and then gently wedge a metal spatula underneath the cookie to lift it off the baking sheet, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool, then stack them between paper towels to absorb any excess grease. Wipe the baking sheet liner with a paper towel and repeat the process with the remaining batter. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 to 5 days; separate each layer of cookies with a piece of waxed paper to prevent the cookies from sticking together. Packed this way, the cookies can be frozen for up to 2 months.

Makes about 25 cookies

The peanut butter cookie has been a mainstay of the American cookie baker’s arsenal since the mid-1930s when they first made their appearance in cookbooks. Our inspiration here was the lifelong love we have always felt for peanut butter and bacon sandwiches. The result is in no way a “shy” cookie. It’s all about flavor and crunch: You get the flavors of brown and granulated sugars, peanut butter, and bacon in each bite. The bacon provides a little chewiness as well as saltiness, and the peanut butter enriches the batter with its creaminess. If you have any cookies left over (that’s a big if), freeze them in an airtight container.

Vegetable oil cooking spray (optional)

5 slices bacon, cut into ¼-inch pieces

1¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed light brown sugar

½ cup extra-crunchy peanut butter (not one labeled natural)

1 large egg

1¼ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1
Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or spray it with vegetable oil cooking spray.

2
Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until lightly browned and most of the fat is rendered, 5 to 8 minutes, stirring often and adjusting the heat as necessary. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.

3
Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium-size mixing bowl and stir to combine.

4
Place the butter in a large bowl and, using a standing electric mixer, beat until creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat until very fluffy and well blended, 2 to 3 minutes, stopping the mixer to scrape down the side of the bowl as necessary. Beat in the peanut butter until thoroughly incorporated, about 1 minute. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until just blended.

5
Stir the flour mixture into the peanut butter mixture until well blended. Stir in the drained bacon until just incorporated.

6
Working in batches, roll 1 generous tablespoon of dough between the palms of your hands to form a 1-inch ball (the dough will be soft). Arrange the balls of dough about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Use the back of a fork to press each ball into an approximately 1½-inch round and then use the tines of the fork to make a crosshatch pattern on the top of each cookie. It helps to dip the fork into a glass of water after pressing the crosshatch on each cookie. Refrigerate the remaining cookie dough.