Spiced Candied Bacon Toffee

Well HIYEEE Y'all!  Time to get my bacon on again.  Today I'm writing about sweet, savory, and spicy with my Spicy Candied Bacon Toffee. Candied bacon is a whole new level of YUM for bacon lovers. Spice that meat candy up and you'll never go back to the same ole, same ole. The spice and heat offsets the sweet and the combination just works together. So lets get our bacon on!

Spiced Candied Bacon

spiced bacon rub

1/4 c brown sugar
1 T +Code3spices 5-0 Spice Rub
1 T cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 tsp ground ginger
1# Burgers' Smokehouse maple bacon

Combine all ingredients.


Preheat oven to 400 F.  Line two half sheet pans with a silicon mat.  If you don't own mats, I would encourage the investment. If you try to do this without the nonstick involved, you may as well throw away the pan because you won't be able to get it clean. Trust me on this. Silicon mats aren't that expensive and they are a great tool to have in the kitchen.  (And hey, it's also an excuse to go shopping!) 



Spiced Candied Bacon

Place the bacon on the lined pans and sprinkle with half of the spice mixture.  Bake 10 minutes and then turn bacon over.  Sprinkle remaining spice mixture over bacon and continue to bake another 5 minutes or so, until the bacon is sticky and gooey and absolutely killing you because you want to eat every last piece....oh wait, I digress.  Sorry, bacon always distracts me.  Where was I???

 



Avoid eating the entire plate.  You can sneak a couple of pieces after you cut up what you need for the toffee.  Chop up enough bacon to make up a cup or so. 

Chopped meat candy

Toffee

1 # unsalted butter
1 c granulated sugar
1 c brown sugar
1 T honey
1/4 c water

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1 T vanilla extract
2 c toasted chopped pecans
1 c chopped candied bacon
1 c toasted sweetened coconut
1/2 c sweetened dried cranberries
1 1/2 # semi sweet chocolate
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
8 oz white chocolate
Fleur de sel

Line a half sheet pan with a silicon mat. Melt butter in a heavy-bottomed pot on stove top. In a separate bowl, mix together white sugar, brown sugar and honey;  add to melted butter.  Add 1/4 c water and cook mixture on medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Cook until mixture reaches 300 F.

Add bourbon, vanilla, pecans, and bacon. Remove from heat and spread onto lined sheet pan. Sprinkle with toasted coconut and sweetened dried cranberries.

 

Now, here is a judgment call. You can either melt the chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave. Just remember, chocolate burns easily and does NOT like water. Don't walk away from the chocolate! Both types of chocolate need to be melted so they can be marbled together.

 

Marbled chocolate YUM!

Spread the darker chocolate over the sticky sugary bacon goodness (Mmmmm....bacon), and then drizzle the white chocolate over.  Marble the white chocolate by dragging the tip of a knife or a skewer. Sprinkle the top of the chocolate with Fleur de Sel. 

 

 

 

 

  

MMM....Spiced Candied Bacon Toffee

I've gotta add that this recipe is very flexible.  I've swapped out the bourbon for Grand Marnier and added orange zest to the chocolate.  I've also used dried apricots and dried cherries.  If you don't want to have the salt, crunch up some pretzels and sprinkle that on top.  The salt adds a flavor and texture element that I love. I've used pink Himalayan salt, coarse sea salt, and smoked salt on top of the toffee instead of the Fleur de Sel.  Use your imagination. Make sure you let me know what works for you! 

 

Happy Bacon Trails to You!

 

 

It Feels Like the First Time....

Hiyee y'all.  I'm the Frolicking Foodista. Food and fun are my way of life. I'm a bacon loving, BBQ chasing, bourbon girl who has a hankering for pastry. I also love turning leftovers into something new; it's actually a challenge that I enjoy. I'll spread the love of things culinary and the good times that revolve around them.  I'm a Twitter freak and will have Frolicking Foodista on soon to spread the silly shenanigans that I call my life.  I'm not joking when I say I have NO blogging experience, so this will be a learning journey for me.  Just keep that in mind when I make mistakes (-;

 

Let's get this blogging started!  Nothing says YUM like a microwaved leftover pork chop right? Wait, whaaaaat? Yeah, YUCK is what I though too. I had leftover bone-in loin chops that I had grilled and thought braising would be the best bet. So you know what, that's what I did.  Say hello to my little friend the tamale...

Aren't they pretty getting all flavored up with +Code3spices 5-0 rub before hitting the smoke. Oh, get used to the +Code3spices plug because I adore those guys and their mission for giving back to those who serve (Oh look, I plugged again).  These chops were reverse seared so they were smoked at a loooooow temperature and then finished on open flame.  YUM!

 

 

 

BEFORE

AFTER

Now it's bath time! Remember braise doesn't mean drown your meat.  Go about half way up the side.  Here I have sautéed onions, Swiss chard (yes, WITH the stems), and butternut squash.  I added a little oregano, chili powder, and an S-ton of garlic.  I used chicken stock but you can use vegetable stock if you want but I really don't know why you would bother because pork isn't vegan.  I covered the little piggies and put the pot in the oven at 300F for a couple of hours or until the chops were "forkable", as I call it, and the liquid was almost gone. Take the bones out of course, you don't want to eat those. Grab a fork and go crazy on it. At this point, you have a filling.  You could use this for enchiladas, ravioli, empanadas, chimichangas, potstickers, egg rolls ...you get the picture.

 

Make some tamale dough, which is like making pie dough except temperature doesn't really matter.  You take about 2 1/2 cups of masa harina, add some salt and mush it together with about 1 cup of vegetable shortening (or bacon fat if you're up for it).  Add enough chicken stock to make a thick paste....think mashed potatoes.  Soak your husks for an hour before you spread the dough and drop the filling. It's actually a lot of fun once you get all your ducks in a row. Steam away for about an hour.

 

 

Usually pork tamales are served with a chili sauce but I wanted something bright to offset the richness of the pork.  Sounds kind of fancy pants but hey, sometimes I'm like that.  I made a pineapple, clementine, black bean salad that had crumbled goat cheese, cilantro, and pistachios. You really don't need a starch to go with this but what the hell, I made Spanish rice to go alongside just because I can. The tamales were out of this world so I'm going to toot my horn...TOOT TOOT.

 

I hope you enjoyed my first blogging experience. Now I have to figure out how to post this without erasing everything I've done!  Love what you do, do what you love!