Candied Bacon, Bacon Brownies!

Oh Yes, the bacon is on top, and OH YES the bacon is in the brownies.

This post is actually quite special to me because recently I changed my career around, and having always loved the art of photography, joined up at Monaco Reps to become what started as a producer, but is quickly turning into an artist representative. One of my photographers, Tara Sgroi, is unbelievably talented in both her food as well as her people and lifestyle photographs AND videos. Tara had approached me on coming to our new home out in Ocean Grove to shoot me while I cook. So what you will see within this post is all photos by Tara…. now back to the bacon…

In July of this year we went to the opening of Neely’s BBQ Parlor. The food was good, but the most memorable dish was the candied bacon. I had never heard of candied bacon before but this was like crack! It was delicious. We also heard from our loose-lipped waitress that there was some internal thievery of the candied bacon the day before they opened to the public. Yes, it’s that good. So when I was trying to think about what I can make as a dessert with bacon, I suddenly had an inspiration to learn how to candy the bacon (SUPER EASY) as well as utilize it in fudgey brownies (SUPER EASY TOO!). The results? Well, you be the judge.

THE CANDIED BACON! (SPICY OPTIONAL!)
Seriously, I was a little intimidated by this idea because the restaurant made it feel so special. Oh and it was super special. And now I feel even more so, knowing the simple secret that is not safe to have hanging around my house.
For hardware you need to make sure you have a stainless steel cooling rack (this makes it oven safe) as well as a cookie sheet that is bigger than said rack.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 package of thick cut bacon
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1 table-spoon of Toluca Gourmet Habañero sauce (optional)

Directions:

1. I need to begin with the fact that the hot sauce is just minimal to give the bacon a little kick, honestly, you aren’t going to taste it too much on the brownies, but  you also aren’t going to be using all the candied bacon with the brownies, so there will be extra. And the little punch that the sauce added was amazing. But like I said, you don’t have to do it.
2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
3. Line a large baking sheet with foil and place the cooling rack on top of the sheet.
4. Drop each piece of raw bacon separately into a large bowl so that they are not stuck together.
5. Now toss the bacon in the brown sugar until it is all coated in the sugar.
6. Sprinkle the optional hot sauce in the mix and toss a little more (using your hands)
7. Lay each piece of bacon on the cooling rack. Then sprinkle the extra brown sugar in the bowl over the coated bacon.
8. Cook in the oven 15-20 minutes until the bacon is the type of crispy that you like. NOTE: The sugar does make the bacon a little tougher. It’s now “candied”
9. Remove from the oven and let it cool for five minutes.
10. Peel the bacon off the cooling rack before it totally solidifies and sticks to the cooling rack. Place the bacon on a plate and save for part 2.

BACON BROWNIES
Once again this is pretty self-explanatory.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 package of bacon (the remainder of what you used earlier)
• 1 cup of melted unsalted butter
• 3 cups unbleached organic sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla (real please)
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate bar broken into pieces or semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. In a skillet of some sort, cook the remaining bacon till desired crispness. Then remove from the grease and put on a paper towel lined plate. Once cooled, chop the bacon into small pieces and put aside.
2. Preheat the over to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 baking dish.
3. Melt your butter in the microwave.
4. Now in a large mixing bowl (my pretty kitchen-aid, see photo) mix together the butter, sugar and vanilla. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time till the mixture is smooth.
5. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder and salt. whisk together then slowly pour into the wet mixture, while the kitchen-aid is running.
6. Mix in the chocolate chips and the chopped bacon then pour the mixture into the baking dish.
7. Now take your candied bacon and cut it into 1″ pieces. Press the candied bacon into the top of the mixture. Use as much or as little as you like.
8. Cook for about 35-40 minutes until a toothpick (or in my case, not having any, a chopstick) comes out clean.
9. Cool for about 20 minutes then eat!