Mmmm, Bacon – Now For Dessert!

Am I just particularly hungry right now? Well, actually yes. But should that lessen the interest in this new trend of adding bacon to dessert recipes? Absolutely not.

Courtesy of Susan Russo (a/k/a Food Blogga), NPR has some great ideas for ways to use bacon – along with four fantastic bacon dessert recipes – in its feature, “Bacon Gets Its Just Desserts”.

If you’re not interested in learning about the recent history of gastronomical experimentation (bacon-and-egg ice cream, anyone?), at least consider this notion from the piece:

Marrying bacon with sweets such as chocolate, caramel and ice cream is a logical flavor pairing. Combining sweet and salty flavors has always been delicious. Paired sweet and salty flavors is why we love kettle corn, chocolate-covered pretzels and Snickers bars. From that perspective, chocolate-covered bacon and bacon cupcakes suddenly seem, well, right.

Yeah, actually, it does seem right. If you agree, be sure to check out a few tips from the Kitchen Window commentary on adding bacon to desserts:

• Buy lean pork bacon. (Turkey bacon cupcakes? That’s just weird).

• Try smoked bacon. Hickory, apple-wood and maple-smoked bacon lend themselves especially well to sweet desserts.

• Keep the flavors simple and create a pleasing contrast of both flavor and texture. The idea is to make the familiar more exciting.

• Make sure the bacon is crispy and dry. No matter how good the flavor, no one wants a gristly bit of bacon in his cake.

• Have fun and be imaginative. Stressing over them defeats the purpose of making (and eating) bacon desserts.

As for me , I am ready to take on a batch of those Chocolate Chip-Bacon-Pecan Cookies.