Candied Bacon Toffee Recipe 475 Food

CANDIED BACON TOFFEE RECIPE - (4.7/5)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. For the bacon: On a foil-lined sheet pan, lay out your bacon strips. Coat the top with brown sugar. Bake in the oven for 12-14 minutes, flipping over half way through the baking time. Allow the bacon to cool until warm, then cut (with scissors) into 1/4-1/2" pieces. Reserve in a separate bowl. (The ends may be a bit crispy. Keep those for yourself...and enjoy while you pull the other ingredients together.) Hint: It's key to work with the bacon while it's still warm. If you wait too long, it has a tendency to stick to the foil. TOFFEE: Prepare your mise en place: in a medium bowl, combine sugars, espresso powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine water and molasses. Butter a sheet pan or line with a Silpat. Melt butter in a heavy 2 ½-quart saucepan over low heat. Add sugars, espresso powder, cinnamon, salt, water, and molasses; stir until sugar dissolves. Attach a clip-on candy thermometer to side of pan. Increase heat to medium; cook until thermometer registers 290 degrees (and no less!), stirring slowly but constantly and scraping bottom of pan with a silicone spatula, about 20 minutes. (You're on the homestretch when the molten toffee starts to become clear. If you're impatient like me...it will seem like this step takes forever. Stick with it....you're developing that lusty toffee flavor here.) Once you arrive at 290 degrees, remove your pan from the heat, and quickly stir in the candied bacon. Immediately pour the mixture onto your prepared sheet pan; do not scrape the saucepan. Spread toffee to ¼-inch thickness. Use two forks to separate and distribute any bacon that clumps together. And finally, dust the top of the toffee with a light sprinkle of Kosher salt. Stick the sheet pan in the refrigerator for about an hour (until the toffee is firm.) Break the toffee into pieces and store in an airtight container. Sharing is optional.

CANDIED BACON

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Mix the brown sugar and cumin. Dredge each bacon slice on both sides through the sugar mixture.
• Place the bacon on a baking pan with sides and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of your bacon. Place on a paper towel to drain the excess fat.

BACON TOFFEE

Steps:

• Line a baking tray with a silpat, or oil it very well.
• Crisp bacon in a skillet or under a broiler and drain on paper towels. Break or chop them into 1/4" bits and set aside. Don't go too small, because you want them to have personality in your mouth. Use a smoky bacon, ideally lightly cured.
• Place in a heavy saucepan, in this order: 1/4 cup water, 1 stick butter, a large pinch of salt, and 1 cup sugar.
• Over medium-high heat, cook till the mixture reaches 285F, stirring often. In practice, this means that you cook it until it's a good toffee color, about the same color as the old tan m&ms. I'm not kidding about the stirring, though.
• Pull it off heat, mix in the bacon bits, and pour onto the baking sheet. Spread quickly to about 1/4" thick, and let cool for 2 hours.
• Using a hammer or the handle of a large knife, break the toffee into shards. This is best accomplished by whacking it through a folded paper towel.

CANDIED BACON

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Put bacon slices in a bowl, season them with pepper and toss with the brown sugar. Cover a baking sheet with parchment or foil and arrange the bacon in a single layer on top. Sprinkle any sugar left in the bowl over the bacon. Top with another layer of parchment or foil and top it, squarely, with another baking sheet. The baking sheet will flatten the bacon as it cooks.
• Place the tray in the center of the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Check the bacon by lifting the top tray and parchment. If it is not golden brown and fairly crispy, resist the temptation to turn up the oven temperature, and cook it for 10 to 15 minutes longer. Check it again. Keep in mind that when you remove the tray and transfer the bacon to a serving platter or individual plates, the bacon will "crisp" up a little more. Be patient!

CANDIED BACON

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment.
• Separate the bacon into strips and blot each dry. Spread the sugar on a large plate. Press both sides of each bacon strip in the sugar. Arrange the coated bacon on the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle with any remaining sugar.
• Bake the bacon for 15 minutes, turn the strips over and continue to bake until golden and glazed, 15 to 20 minutes more (it will still be pliable). Remove to a rack and let cool; the bacon will harden but it won't be super crispy.

CANDIED BACON BITES

Steps:

• Put the bacon in a container so it lays flat. Pour over the cola to cover. Refrigerate and let soak 2 to 3 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, place a cooling rack over top and spray with cooking spray.
• Drain the bacon from the cola, place on the cooling rack and pat dry. Combine the brown sugar, paprika and black pepper in a bowl and toss to combine and loosen up the brown sugar. Sprinkle the brown sugar mixture on both sides of the bacon, pressing and patting so it adheres. Place the slices on the cooling rack; they can be close to one another but shouldn't touch.
• Bake until the bacon is deeply caramelized but still pliable (it will crisp as it cools), about 20 minutes. Flip the bacon occasionally as it cools to crisp on both sides. Let cool completely.

CANDIED BACON

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a wire rack on top. Coat the rack with nonstick cooking spray.
• Arrange the bacon slices on the wire rack in a single layer. Brush the bacon slices with half the sorghum. Sprinkle with half the brown sugar and half the pepper, pressing to adhere to the sorghum. Turn the bacon over and repeat the process with the remaining sorghum, brown sugar and pepper. Bake until the fat renders, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Let stand 5 minutes. (The bacon will crisp as it stands.)

CANDIED BACON

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Mix brown sugar, rice vinegar, maple syrup, and black pepper in a small bowl.
• Place bacon slices on cooling rack set over a baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, turn slices, and bake another 5 minutes.
• Remove bacon and brush both sides with brown sugar mixture. Return bacon to the oven and bake another 5 minutes. Repeat basting every 5 minutes until bacon is browned and crisp, about 35 minutes.