Journey, Feast, and Live

I think it is fair to say that a lot of people love bacon.  Some like it crispy, some will like it a little chewy. While others love a nice maple or applewood flavor.  Once you have gone and decided all of that, you can decide where and how you are going to eat it.  You can put it on a burger, eat it in some pasta, or of course just eat it alone.  However did you ever think of putting into a brownie recipe?

It was a few months ago and I was looking for a present to give to my mom for her birthday.  I decided to give her a few books for the Kindle fire I bought her for Christmas.  While doing this I came across 21 Bacon Dessert Recipes by Diane Dixon.  It has a lot of recipes that are pretty interesting, like putting bacon into chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal cookies.  Using it in cupcakes, along with your “standard” chocolate covered bacon.

One of the first few recipes are the Gooey Bacon Brownies with Caramel Sauce.  That’s right brownies with bacon in them.  However they have a twist.  You are making a bacon caramel sauce, then layer it over the brownie batter.  This gives it the brownies their gooeyness, along with keeping them very moist   and pure melt in your mouth texture.

Now I changed a few things in the recipe.  One of the main things is the fact that I added a few tablespoons of bourbon, in this case it was vanilla bourbon.  Once the brownies are done, and have cooled for a little bit, you get that fabulous aroma of the bourbon and the vanilla.  This is of course along with the normal chocolatey brownie smell, not to mention the caramel and bacon.  Basically you have a lot things going on here.

These brownies take about 35-45 minutes to cook, but you will want to under bake them, because once they come out, you will let them cool for about 20-30 minutes, then for clean cutting refrigerate them for an hour or more.

I’ve made them several times now and each time they go very quickly.  Try them out, they will be a very big hit for you.

Gooey Bacon Brownies with Caramel Sauce

Prep time: 20 minutes                    Cook time: 35-45 minutes,

Ingredients 

• 2 slices of bacon, A thick cut is best
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
• 1 cup of sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in to pieces
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup light or dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons vanilla bourbon (optional)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, a mix of either 1 cup cake flour, or a mix of a 1/2 cup of cake flour, with whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 slices of cooked bacon, chopped

Cooking Method

Caramel Sauce: In a saucepan, fry two slices of bacon until crisp. Remove bacon and add cream to hot pan and let cool. When bacon is cool, crumble or chop finely.

In a larger pan, heat the sugar over high heat until the mixture is liquid. Mix in the butter and the cooled bacon cream. Stir until the butter is melted. Add the chopped bacon. Remove pan from heat and let the mixture cool thoroughly.

Brownies: Preheat the oven to 350° F (175° C) degrees. Line an 8-inch square pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper that covers the bottom and sides of the pan. If using foil, grease the foil with butter, if using parchment, then just butter the pan and lay paper in the pan.

Melt the butter and chocolate chips by microwaving in a microwave-safe bowl in 15 second intervals. Stir after each melting. Add the cocoa and mix until smooth. Next add in the eggs one at a time. Add the sugar, vanilla, bourbon, if using, along with the flour and baking powder.  Stir until combined.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Over top of that, spread a third of the bacon caramel in an even layer, if caramel is stiff, reheat slightly to allow for easier spreading. Spread the rest of the brownie batter over the top and finish with the remaining caramel sauce over the top of the brownies.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes.  The brownies will have a nice rise, along with bubbling.  You can stick a toothpick in an area where there is no caramel, if comes out slightly clean, remove from the oven, and let cool.  For clean cutting refrigerate for at least 1 hour, then cut into squares.

Yield: 12 to 14 servings