OK, you all know how much I love bacon. It is true; in fact, I think I might be addicted. You know you have a problem when your friends and co-workers comment that your recent blog entries have been lacking that element of bacon. Well, hopefully this post will right the wrong that I have been avoiding my bacon quota 🙂

Bacon in desserts is not new. A lot of restaurants feature bacon desserts. In fact, my new favourite is the Chili Chocolate Ice Cream with Candied Bacon from The Smoque Shack in Ottawa. Hot and spicy chocolate ice cream with candied bacon crumble. Need I say more?

We were having Jeff and Laurel over for dinner, and I really wanted to ramp up my dessert offerings. You know how it is, you have friends over for dinner, and you fill up on appetizers, bread and wine; you get through the main course, but then no-one wants dessert. I wanted to create a dessert that was irresistible; if not for our guests, at least for me 😉

In a recent Cooking with Maple class at Le Cordon Bleu, I was introduced to a Maple Crème Brulée. It was delicious! The instructor informed us maple syrup can be substituted for sugar. This was an amazing lesson to learn. As we live in Ottawa, we have an endless supply of pure maple syrup. I wanted to take advantage of this new found knowledge.

Since Maple Crème Brulée was my choice for dessert, I wanted to make it even more interesting with the introduction of bacon. Yum, bacon.

I looked for candied bacon recipes, and found maple candied bacon on the Martha Stewart Living Website. Maple Candied Bacon by Martha. You know that is going to be good.

I purchased extra thick bacon, I don’t know if this would work as well with regular bacon. I also baked the bacon in the oven, instead of frying it on the stove. It kept the bacon flat. I highly recommend this technique. It will be great if you are hosting a brunch and you want to cook up lots and lots of bacon. Or if it is just a regular Tuesday night and you are craving lots and lots of bacon 🙂

To really bring home the maple flavour, I used maple sugar to brulée. It was perfect!

The bacon was a smoky, crispy candy that was the perfect companion to the creamy custard.

I am totally going to make this again!

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Adapted from:
Crème Brulée
Martha Stewart – Maple-Candied Bacon

Ingredients:

Maple Crème Brulée

• 5 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 cups whipping cream (35%)
• 1/4 cup maple sugar (for the brulée)

Maple Candied Bacon

• 6 slices thick cut bacon
• 2/3 cup pure maple syrup

Directions:

Maple Crème Brulée

1. Preheat oven to 300ºF.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and maple syrup until the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Add cream and continue to whisk until well blended. Strain into a large bowl, skimming off any foam or bubbles.
3. Divide mixture among 5 ramekins or custard cups. Place ramekins in a water bath (large pan filled with 1 or 2 inches of hot water) and bake until set around the edges, but still loose in the center, about 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from oven and leave in the water bath until cooled. Remove cups from water bath and chill for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days.
4. When ready to serve, sprinkle about 2 teaspoons of maple sugar over each custard. For best results, use a small, hand-held torch to melt sugar.
5. Top with Maple Bacon.

Maple Candied Bacon

1. Arrange bacon in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Bake in a 400ºF degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven; drain fat.
2. Reduce oven temperature to 350ºF degrees. Pour maple syrup over bacon; flip to coat. Bake, flipping bacon and rotating pan halfway through, until bacon is golden brown and syrup is thick, about 35 minutes. (Keep a close eye on it for the last 10 minutes.)
3. Transfer bacon to parchment using tongs. Let cool to harden.
4. Try to resist sampling (I know I couldn’t) 😉