Spicy Candied Bacon

Better late than never.  I sat down to plan for this weekend and realized that I never posted my bonus recipe from last weekend.  So here is the Candied Bacon I made the day after I made Challah.  :)

I found my inspiration from many places, but The Clever Carrot was the main one.

Spicy Candied Bacon

Ingredients
1 pound good quality bacon, sliced
2 Tbsp pure real maple syrup*
¼ Cup brown sugar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp Kosher salt
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp fresh ground black pepper

*Note: Please.  Pleasepleaseplease I am begging you.  Use real Maple Syrup.  From real maple trees.  With no flavorings or additives.  Trust me - it's worth the extra cost.  There is nothing that compares to it.  I'm so passionate about this, I'll probably do a post about this at some point.


Instructions

1. Mise en Place. (By now,  I hope you expected this... get your stuff together!)
2. Prepare.
• Preheat the oven to 400° F.
• Wrap a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and top with a wire rack. Trust me: do this.  Bacon grease is soooo messy by itself, and this time we're adding all sorts of sticky things, too.
3. Make the coating for the the bacon.
• In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except the bacon.
• Mix well.
  
4. Coat the bacon and put on the rack.
• Separate the bacon strips and put them all into the bowl.
• Squish the bacon around in the coating until all pieces are nicely covered. Yes, I said "squish". I like instructions that sound normal.  This is how I talk. You'll get used to Jenn-ese.
  
• Line the slices on the rack in a single layer. They can be touching but should not overlap.  They will shrink a bit as you cook them.
  
5. Bake.
• Bake in the center of the oven for 20-30 minutes.
• Keep a close eye it starting around the 15 minute mark.  You're looking for it to be dark but not burnt.  It will finish crisping as it cools, so you want to pull it out before it's super crispy... but not too early either.  This is the trickiest part.
6. Cool and enjoy!
• Remove from the oven and let it cool on the rack for about 5 minutes.  Don't let it completely cool in the rack or it will stick.
• To serve, you can leave whole or break it into smaller pieces.
  

I've had candied bacon in mac-n-cheese with jalapeños.  Sooooo good.  Highly recommend.  But this stuff is great just to munch on.  Or put in a sandwich!

Thanks for checking out this recipe.

Hang out and check back for more posts as I practice

cooking and baking in my little kitchen.