Bacon-Parmesan Biscuits

A recipe for bacon-parmesan biscuits caught my eye as I flipped through The Bacon Cookbook. I must try this. So verily it came to pass that my Friday evening entertainment involved culinary capers.

The recipe began with frying and crumbling a half pound of bacon. I decided to improvise. Several months ago I read a blog post that spoke of wonderful things, things like dusting bacon with pepper and brown sugar and baking it. I must try this. So I did.

Pour some sugar on me.

It turns out baking bacon with pepper and brown sugar is a good idea. This did not surprise me. I crumbled the bacon, then went about combining flour, shortening, baking powder, salt, cayenne pepper, milk, and a Parmesan cheese mix.

You knead me.

I decided to try a few different approaches to forming and baking the biscuits. I used a glass to cut traditional round biscuits, but I also rolled some into balls like cookie dough. I used one tray greased lightly with shortening, and I used the tray that I had baked the bacon on (which had a sheen of bacon grease on it).

Take your pick.

My verdict is that the dough rolled into balls and baked on bacon grease came out the best (the biscuit on the left in the picture above). They sacrifice a bit of formality in appearance, but it translates to a doughier and fluffier biscuit. However, with bacon biscuits–as is in vogue in youth sports right now–they’re all winners.

Bacon-Parmesan Biscuits

I like this recipe, though I’ll definitely make some adjustments next time. I’ll use a thicker bacon with less fat, more cayenne pepper, and attempt to be less kneady. I’ve also been wondering if an herb or two, like basil or oregano, might be a good addition.

At the bottom of the recipe is a note that they store in an airtight container for two weeks. Ha! These things will be lucky to survive two days.

Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies

Back in February a friend sent me a link to a recipe for peanut butter bacon cookies (thanks Leslie!). I filed the recipe away for a later date. Today was that later date.

When a recipe starts with frying and dicing six strips of bacon it’s difficult not to be optimistic.

The hardest part of dicing bacon is not eating it.

The batter is a mixture of peanut butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, and an egg. It seems very simple. I felt like I was forgetting something.

Baconed-up batter.

The recipe called for a cookie sheet greased with butter. I used parchment paper instead (the only way to make cookies). I wonder what difference butter might have made to the cookies?

Raw peanut butter bacon cookie recruits.

When the cookies emerged from the oven they looked impressive. They were a bit crumbly, I had to be very careful not to break them into pieces. To deal with this I lifted the parchment and transferred it with its cargo to the counter to cool instead of removing each cookie with a thin spatula.

The finished product.

When the cookies had cooled slightly I poured a glass of milk and sampled my handiwork. Not bad. Not bad at all. Peanut butter flavor dominated, the bacon was rather subtle (though impossible to miss). When paired with milk the cookie was very good, I suspect it would taste a bit dry by itself.

In their warm state the cookies crumbled quite readily. I wonder if using butter on the sheets would have prevented that? After cooling completely they became more stable, and I was impressed at how moist the centers were.

I’ll give this recipe a thumbs up. You might want to try these yourself.

Constructing a Bacon-Cheese Turtleburger

Last week a friend sent me a link to a post on The Chive regarding a bacon-cheese turtleburger (thanks Paul!). The source for that article was a post from the blog Interwebs Randomness and Other Inspiring Tales. As soon as I saw the article I knew constructing a bacon-cheese turtleburger was in my future.

This afternoon I fulfilled that premonition.

Am I not turtley enough for the turtle club?

A ground beef patty topped with cheddar, wrapped in bacon, and decorated with hotdogs. After 30 minutes at 400° F the turtle was ready to migrate to a dinner plate.

The bacon-cheese turtleburger.

So how was this faux reptile? Well, I’m afraid the appearance is better than the taste. Some things are better when ingredients are prepared together. Some things are better when ingredients are prepared separately. This would be one of the times separation is a good thing.

I had two primary concerns about the turtleburger. First, the bacon was not uniform in its state of bakedness (my spell checker is appalled, my dictionary is disappointed, but that “word” just captures what I’m trying to say). Some parts were rubbery and chewy, some were burnt. Bacon that is fried correctly is exponentially better than poorly prepared bacon, so I had difficulty looking past the bacon inconsistency. My second concern was the amount of grease the turtleburger harbored. I tried blotting most of it out, but even my best efforts yielded poor results. It was a very greasy burger.

It was a noble experiment and most definitely worthwhile. That being said, it was probably my first and last bacon-cheese turtleburger. Turtleburger, the best goodbyes are short. Adieu.

The final moments of the bacon-cheese turtleburger.

Peanut Butter-Maple Bacon Fudge

Last month my sister sent me a link to an NPR article regarding desserts that mix bacon and chocolate. After reading the article I resolved to make bacon fudge. Here is my story.

I started with a 12 ounce package of center cut bacon. I kept 15 strips of bacon for the fudge and ate the rest.

Potential thy name is stack of bacon.

I diced the bacon into fine pieces, creating a pile composed of 12 slices (to be mixed into the chocolate) and one of 3 slices (to be used as garnish).

Bacon dicing in progress.

I then placed 14 ounces of sweetened & condensed milk, 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, 1/4 teaspoon of maple extract, 1/2 cup of peanut butter chips, and 1 1/2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a medium saucepan at medium heat.

Chocolate and peanut butter chips socialize, having no idea what fate awaits them.

As the mix melted I stirred it until it finally reached a nice smooth state. At this point I stirred in the 12 slices of diced bacon, then poured the mixture into a greased 8×8 Pyrex dish. As a final touch the garnish bacon was applied to the top.

Ready to chill.

The fudge spent the night in the refrigerator. The next day I sliced it into squares and rectangles.

A bacon fudge square.

After eating a few pieces I have several ideas for improving my next batch. First, I plan to use 1 cup of peanut butter chips, 3/4 cup of milk chocolate chips, and 3/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I could not detect the peanut butter taste in my original batch, and the taste of semi-sweet chocolate was very strong. Second, I’ll add a strip of bacon to both the garnish and mixture count, making the grand total 17.  Also, I will not dice all the bacon as finely as I did this time (effectively I will model my bacon dicing after chunky peanut butter).

One last look at bacon fudge.

I noticed that the bacon flavor in this fudge became more pronounced over time. When the fudge was fresh I barely tasted bacon, but after a few days the flavor was easier to detect.

Sadly this bacon fudge story does not have a happily-ever-after ending, for the fudge was depleted. But all hope is not lost, I’m sure this story is part of a long series.

International Bacon Day

Great people, events, and things often get days of commemoration. It is only logical that bacon falls into this category.

Today is International Bacon Day.

The Saturday before Labor Day has been designated to honor bacon. If you check the ultimate authority in all thing, Wikipedia, you’ll find that International bacon Day is a young holiday (and the Wiki has the audacity to call it an unofficial holiday). it is the creation of a few graduate students from the University of Colorado at Boulder (see their blog here), and it began in 2004.

I learned about this tribute to bacon from Jim Gaffigan. I follow him on Twitter, and earlier today he mentioned the holiday. I was caught unprepared today. There is no bacon in my house. I had an omelet and pancakes for dinner, with no bacon. I am ashamed.

I believe John F. Kennedy said it best, speaking prophetically at his Inaugural Address in 1961:

To this glorious holiday, the International Day of Bacon, our last best hope in an age where bland foods have far outpaced the instruments of deliciousness we renew our pledge of support—to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective—to strengthen its shield of the savory and the scrumptious—and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.

Next year on Saturday, September 4 I will be prepared to honor bacon in a manner worthy of its stature.