A wise man named Homer once described the pig as, "... a wonderful, magical animal," and how right he was. So maybe it wasn't Homer of the Greek epic poet variety who spoke these words of wisdom but rather Homer of the Simpson donut eating variety, but still no truer words have been spoken. Bacon truly is manna from heaven.
So anyhow, Friday evening I was feeling kind of sassy and I felt like whipping up some sort of dessert for me and the boys. Now my idea of a good dessert is something that leans more towards the savory side then the sweet, that's just how my tastebuds roll. I perused the internet a bit and then JACKPOT! I found something that would satisfy my craving--bacon brownies! The recipe was pretty straightforward. The cracking, whipping and baking commenced. Then I ushered Mr. S. and the kidlets out for a bike ride while the brownies cooled. Good thing too, those stinkers (all three of them) kept trying to nibble all the bacon bits off the top of the brownies whenever I turned my back. End result : This recipe cranked out some delicious bacon/cocoa-y cake like brownies...all four of us gave it the thumbs up.
Bacon Brownies (adapted from Lauren's Kitchen)
Ingredients
8-10 strips of bacon, cooked to your desired doneness, chopped
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 sticks (8 oz.) butter, melted
1¼ cup Ghiradelli All Natural Unsweetened Cocoa
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Fry bacon in pan, then drain it on a paper towel to remove as much grease as possible. After it has cooled enough to touch, chop it into small bits.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Sift all of the dry ingedients: sugar, brown sugar, flour, salt, and cocoa - together into one large pile of incorporated dry ingredients.
- Next, crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl or your stand mixer bowl, and begin to beat the eggs on medium speed until they’re a nice light yellow color and beginning to look a little fluffy. Not too much, though.
- Then turn your mixer to it’s lowest speed and slowly start incorporating the sifted pile of dry ingredients. After they’re all gone, toss in the vanilla extract, and then - and this is important - slowly add the melted butter. You should now have a nice gooey brownie batter.
- Stop mixing, and using a spatula, fold in bacon bits. Save some to sprinkle on top.
- Spray your 8″ square baking pan with cooking spray, then cut a piece of parchment paper to about 8″ by 16″ to fit inside the pan with the 2 ends extending out from the sides, in essence making a “sling” of sorts for the brownies. The cooking spray will make the parchment paper stick to the bottom and sides of the pan.
- Pour the batter into the pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Sprinkle bacon bits on top of batter.
- Bake for 45 minutes or so until a toothpick inserted in the center of the brownies comes out clean-ish.
- When the brownies are done baking, let them cool for a minute or two, just to set up a little, then, using your parchment sling, lift the brownies out and onto a cooling rack for another 7 minutes or so. You want to cut the brownies before they cool entirely so that they don’t crack. Try using a pizza cutter for easy cutting.
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