Brown Sugar Bacon Wrapped Apples Food

BROWN SUGAR BACON

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Position racks in the top and bottom of the oven. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with foil and set cooling racks into the baking sheets.
• Using your fingers, crumble together the brown sugar, smoked paprika and several grinds of black pepper on a plate. Dredge the bacon on both sides in the brown sugar mixture, rubbing so the sugar adheres. Arrange the slices on the racks without touching.
• Bake until the bacon is crisp and caramelized, flipping the slices and rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom halfway through, about 20 minutes total. Let the slices cool on the racks, turning once or twice so they don't stick.

BACON WRAPPED SMOKIES WITH BROWN SUGAR

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Cut the bacon into thirds and wrap each smokie.
• Place all the wrapped smokies in a single layer in a baking dish.
• Then melt the stick of butter and then 1 cup of brown sugar and stir until mixed well.
• Pour the butter and brown sugar mixture on the smokies and bacon.
• Then take the other cup of brown sugar and sprinkle evenly over the smokies.
• Bake them for about 15-20 minutes and then turn the heat up to 400F for about 5 minutes or longer until the bacon becomes crispy.

BACON APPLES

Steps:

• Build a campfire and allow the fire to burn until it has accumulated a bed of coals. Rake the coals into a flat bed on one side of the fire. Alternatively, preheat an outdoor grill.
• Place apples in a loaf pan. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl; spoon into each apple.
• Place the loaf pan into the campfire or on the grill; cook for about 3 minutes. Carefully remove the pan from the fire and sprinkle bacon over apples. Place in the fire or on the grill for about 5 minutes more.

BROILED BROWN-SUGAR APPLES WITH BACON

Steps:

• Preheat broiler and lightly grease a broiler pan or 15 1/2- by 10 1/2-inch jelly-roll pan.
• Cut apples crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices. Cut out core from the middle of each slice and stack slices to reform whole apples. Arrange slices from 1 apple in one layer in pan, keeping slices in order, and sprinkle with half of brown sugar. Broil apple slices 4 to 6 inches from heat 2 minutes, or until barely tender and sugar is caramelized. Transfer broiled apples in one layer to a tray. In cleaned lightly greased pan broil remaining apple slices with remaining brown sugar in same manner.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. and grease a small shallow baking pan.
• Arrange bottom slice of each apple in baking pan and sprinkle with some bacon. Stack remaining apple slices in order on top, sprinkling layers with bacon and ending with top slices of apples, to form 2 whole apples. Apples may be prepared up to this point 1 day ahead and chilled in baking pan, covered. Bring apples to room temperature before proceeding.
• Reheat apple, uncovered, in oven until hot, about 15 minutes.

BROWN SUGAR BACON

Steps:

• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 425.
• Lay bacon on paper and sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake 10 minutes then drain fat from pan (carefully!).
• Bake 5 to 10 minutes more, until it's as crisp as you like.

BAKED BACON-WRAPPED BROWN SUGAR SMOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Open the packages of bacon and cut the whole slab into thirds across the bacon pieces. I usually cut them straight out of the refrigerator while they're cold, then allow them to warm a bit before wrapping the Smokies - the bacon is more pliable when not very cold, and makes it easier to work with awkwardly-shaped pieces.
• To make assembly even easier, line up pieces of bacon on your cutting board or a clean counter. Wrap each Lit'l Smokie in a 1/3-cut piece of bacon, then secure with a toothpick.
• Lay wrapped Smokies on a sheet pan. Tilting the toothpick downward makes lining them up a bit easier. (If you are making a double or triple batch with a Costco-sized 3-pound package of Smokies, continue wrapping until you run of room on your sheet pan, and then - just to make the overall assembly easier - can continue wrapping until you run out of the Smokies and simply put them in a bowl until you can lay them out on another sheet pan later or when your first one is out of the oven. If you run out of bacon before Smokies, you can cut some strips of bacon lengthwise to make additional slices so that you'll have enough.).
• Sprinkle about 1/4 teaspoon of brown sugar on each Smokie - I simply sprinkle by hand.
• Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven for 45 minutes.
• Using tongs, transfer the treats to a platter or plate, arrange attractively, put them out for your guests, and stand back before you get trampled in the crowd's rush to get at them. :).
• Note: I usually make triple batches of these at a time, using the 3-pound Smokies packages from Costco and three packages of bacon. Although best if served immediately, I bake them all up, then freeze them and thaw and reheat in the oven (or even the microwave) to serve. The bacon and brown sugar doesn't stay as crispy that way, but since most parties will have a varying number of attendees we find it's easier to make large batches during the holidays. Before reheating, you can sprinkle a bit more brown sugar over them to make up for any that fell off. ;).
• Optional: before putting the brown sugar over, you can also sprinkle the Smokies with a small amount of cinnamon sugar, for even more flavor!