Maple Bacon Pecan Brittle Food

BACON PECAN BRITTLE RECIPE

Steps:

• Cover a large rimmed baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. Butter the paper generously.
• Place the sugar, corn syrup, water and butter in a large sauce pot. Attach a candy thermometer on the side of the pot, with the bottom down in the sugar mixture. Turn the heat on medium-high and bring the sugar to a boil.
• Meanwhile, chop the bacon finely, place it in a skillet, and cook over medium heat until brown. Then drain the bacon bits well on paper towels. They need to be dry, not greasy when added to the brittle.
• Watch the candy thermometer closely. When it reaches 275 degrees F or "Soft Crack" carefully stir in the pecans. It usually takes 15-25 minutes to reach this temperature.
• Continue to boil the candy. The moment the thermometer reaches 295 degrees F or "Hard Crack" turn off the heat. Carefully stir in the vanilla extract and dried bacon bits. Then stir in the baking soda. The mixture will bubble up to create air pockets.
• Quickly, yet very carefully, pour the hot liquid brittle on the prepared baking sheet. Pour it in a zigzag pattern across the baking sheet so it spreads out and fills the sheet in an even layer.
• Immediately move the baking sheet to the refrigerator or freezer so that it cools fast, retaining as many air bubbles as possible. This creates a light airy texture.
• Once the entire sheet of brittle is hard, break it into 36 pieces. Store the brittle in an airtight container until ready to serve.

MAPLE-CANDIED BACON

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Line a rimmed baking sheet with heavy foil. Place a baking rack over the lined sheet tray and arrange the bacon slices across the rack next to each other, not overlapping.
• In a small bowl, whisk the maple syrup and mustard. Generously spoon over the top of the bacon, and bake 12 to 15 minutes. Turn the bacon over and baste with syrup mixture. Bake an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until the bacon has reached desired crispiness.
• Carefully remove the pan from the oven. Sprinkle hot bacon with a scant pinch of finely ground black pepper. Let the bacon rest on the rack for 5 minutes.

MAPLE-PECAN BRITTLE

Steps:

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray.
• Mix sugar, corn syrup, maple syrup, water, and salt together in a pot over medium heat until sugar is dissolved, 5 to 10 minutes. Fold pecans into sugar mixture.
• Place a candy thermometer in pecan mixture and turn heat up to medium-high. Gently stir mixture until it reaches 300 degrees F (150 degrees C), about 10 minutes.
• Quickly removing pot from heat and stir in margarine and baking soda until well mixed. Pour mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and spread out with a spatula. Allow to cool until hardened, about 30 minutes. Break into pieces.

BACON BRITTLE

Steps:

• Cook the bacon over a medium heat until almost crisp. You can do this either in a fry pan, or the oven.
• Place the sugar in a pot wide enough to hold the cooked bacon strips. Add the water. and corn syrup,, mix well, and be sure that no sugar or blacken are on the sides of the pot.
• Cook over medium / high heat, being careful not to burn, until the mixture is a light golden brown. Now you can add the blacken. Hot enough for the hard ball stage.
• You can test the mixture, by dropping a drop into cold water, then touching it to see if it's hard or soft. If it's soft, you've reached the "soft ball stage" and must cook it a little longer. When you drop a drop into cold water, and it becomes hard, you're ready for the next step.
• Turn off the heat, and dip the bacon strips in the caramel one strip at a time. Place them on a parchment lined sheet pan, and let cool. You might have to leave the heat on real low, to keep the caramel warm. The cold bacon will cool it down pretty quick.
• When the bacon brittle has cooled, you can chop it up, or serve as strips.
• I always keep some pecans on hand, and I'll through a good handful into any leftover caramel for a Spicy Pecan Brittle.
• Hint:.
• I like using a Teflon pot for this recipe. The easiest way to clean your pot after making candy in it, is to fill have way with water, and boil. This will melt and dilute the sugar, making cleanup easy.

MAPLE BACON UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. In 12-inch skillet, cook bacon until crisp; drain on paper towels. Tear bacon into pieces; set aside. Reserve 2 tablespoons drippings in skillet. Meanwhile, in 13x9-inch pan, melt butter in oven.
• Cook pecans in reserved bacon drippings over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until light brown. Add brown sugar, maple syrup and vanilla to pecans, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Pour mixture over butter in pan.
• In large bowl, beat cake mix, sour cream, milk, oil and eggs with electric mixer on low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes on medium speed; stir in almond extract. Pour batter over pecan mixture in pan.
• Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; run knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. Place heatproof serving plate upside down on pan; turn plate and pan over. Let pan remain over cake 1 minute so pecan mixture can drizzle over cake. Remove pan; sprinkle cake with bacon. Serve warm.

SPICY MAPLE BACON PEANUT BRITTLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Place bacon on a rack over a cookie sheet and cook until crispy, about 15 minutes. Reserve bacon fat. The recipe calls for 8 tablespoons of butter (fat) - replace as much of butter as you have bacon fat. Once bacon is done, drain on paper towels and chop into bits.
• Place the sugar and maple syrup in a large, heavy saucepan over high heat and stir with a wooden spoon until sugar begins to melt. Lower the heat to medium-high and keep stirring just until the sugar is melted. Stop stirring and watch for it to turn a medium caramel color. About 10 minutes total.
• Stir in peanuts, and then bacon fat and butter. Then add Old Bay, cayenne and dry mustard. Allow peanuts to cook for about two minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in the bacon.
• Turn the mixture out onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper, and spread it evenly to the desired thickness with a wooden spoon or stiff rubber spatula. Sprinkle salt on top, while brittle is still warm.
• Allow to cool completely--at least one hour--then break the brittle into pieces and store in an airtight container at room temperature. If your brittle isn't brittle enough to break into pieces, pop it in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes, until it hardens enough to snap easily.

BACON MAPLE ICE CREAM

Steps:

• Bacon:.
• Pre Heat oven to 400°F.
• mix the 1 tablespoon of syrup and the 1/4 cup brown sugar to form a paste.
• Lay the bacon out on a cooling rack on a lined sheet pan (lining the sheet pan will save you some nasty clean up.
• Spread the paste on one side of the bacon and then bake for 10 minutes.
• Pull out bacon and turn each slice over. Spread the paste the other side of the bacon and out back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
• Pull bacon out and turn it over again, then bake for another 5-10 minutes, or until bacon is evenly glazed.
• Cool completely and then chop into small pieces.
• Maple Ice Cream:.
• Combine all the ice cream ingredients except the bacon in a medium sauce pan and heat to 170°F.
• Cool completely before adding to your ice ream maker.
• Follow you ice cream makers directions, but the basics are
• make sure you machine has been in the freezer for 24 hours and that the mixture is chilled completely.
• add the mixture to the machine while it's running.
• wait until the ice cream is at a soft serve consistancy before adding the bacon pieces.
• Put the ice cream in an airtight container and put in the freezer for a few hours before enjoying.