Blog

Here is the second recipe in my 3 Part post about yummy stuff you can make with bacon… This one is a dessert (yes, that’s right. A dessert).

I was inspired to create this one by a few things/people. The first one was Lauren, who posted a somewhat similar recipe on her blog a few months ago. As soon as I saw her post, I just had to try it… But as usual, I couldn’t just follow the recipe as is and had to change it… I made it a few times with various fillings (strawberries, peach and strawberry & peach together) and it was so good each time! But then I saw a show on the food network that inspired me to take it to a whole new level. It was ‘the best thing I ever had with bacon’… Which is one of those shows where chefs talk about the best places they had various things… That particular show focused on bacon. One chef mentioned a place in NY (I think?) that makes some sort of a chocolate cake with a crisp layer of bacon on top. That certainly got my attention and I told Andrew I need to try making something combining chocolate and bacon. He just looked at me like I have completely lost it… But what else is new?! ;)

So I decided to try making these little chocolate cups and sprinkle bacon on top. Try #1 involved a home made peach & strawberry preserve (with some secret spices too) and it turned out very well… At least that was according to me, Emma, Tyler and Andrew. Then a couple of weeks ago I got the opportunity to get some responses from a larger audience – a bunch of young, hungry and fast triathletes… The bacon on top of the chocolate cups certainly took some by surprise, but I’m pretty sure everyone liked it because they were gone pretty fast and I got a lot of questions about them.

Unfortunately I didn’t write down the exact measurements of everything (I remember a few though) I put in the filling, so you will just have to go by feel and guess the necessary quantities… Sorry! I’ll make it again at some point and will make sure I actually write everything down properly.

The Filling

• Brazil nuts (just 5 or 6 of them)
• Hazelnuts (A big handful I think)
• Goji berries
• Raw cacao nibs
• 4 dates (I remember that because I only had 4 left in the cupboard!)
• 1 tsp honey
• 1-2 tbsp coconut flour

Throw the nuts into a food process and pulse until it is the consistency of coarse flour, then add the rest of the ingredients and pulse to a thick paste.

• 1 box of strawberries and a handful of blueberries, chopped.
• ~1 tsp of cinnamon
• ~1/2 tsp cardamom
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• ~1 1/2 tbsp chia seeds

Put everything but the chia seeds in a small pot and cook over moderate heat until the berries break down and then thicken. Like a preserve! Set a side and cool down. Once it has cooled down, add the chia seeds and then add the preserve to the nut mixture, mixing well. It should be about the same consistency as that of a nut butter…

The Bacon

Cook bacon and once it cools down a bit, cut into small pieces and set aside.

The Cups

• Melt some good quality dark chocolate using the double broiler method. Do it in batches…
• Place muffin paper cups in a muffin tray
• Spoon a thin layer of melted chocolate at the bottom of each muffin cup and spread evenly
• Place muffin tray in the freezer
• Once the chocolate has frozen, place approx 1 tsp of the filling in the middle of each cup and flatten with your fingers a bit. make sure you leave a bit of room at the sides
• Spoon more melted chocolate on top of the filling, rotating each cup a bit so it covers the filling completely
• Sprinkle each chocolate cup with some bacon bits
• Put the tray in the fridge (Don’t put in the freezer this time though…)

That is it! If you try making it, or another chocolate and bacon combination, let me know how it turned out in the comments :)