Culinary Smackdown: Battle Bacon – Grumpy’s Reveal

Well, my little possums, Grumpy’s been busy the last few days, but I managed to make my contribution toward keeping the world happy by giving it bacon.  Thanks to a dear friend who is always supplying me with fabulous recipes she finds, I herewith offer you:

Bacon-Bourbon Brownies (with pecans)

Yes, indeed.  Wipe the drool and read on.  The recipe comes from the August 2011 issue of Food & Wine magazine:

Makes 24 brownies
½ cup pecans
½ lb. sliced bacon
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 stick plus 2 T unsalted b utter
 1 c. granulated sugar
½ packed cup light brown sugar (I used a total of 1 c. sugar)
3 T bourbon (I would add one more)
4 large eggs
1 tsp salt
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

As always, it starts with the ingredients:

The recipe calls for a 9″ square pan lined with parchment paper to lift the brownies out with.  I don’t have a 9″ square pan, so I used my 9″ spring form pan and didn’t need parchment paper. So, preheat the oven to 350.  Toast the pecans.  Sift the cocoa and flour together and cook the bacon, reserving 3 Tbl of the bacon fat.

Chop the bacon and reserve. In a saucepan, combine both chocolates and the butter and melt till smooth.  Then transfer to a mixing bowl. The recipe calls for using a hand mixer, but I only have a stand mixer and that works fine, too:

Then beat in the brown and white sugars, the bacon fat, the bourbon, the eggs and salt and beat until smooth.  Then add the sifted flour/cocoa mixture:

By the time you get all this mixed together, the dough/batter is the consistency of a heavy fudge.  As noted above, I will add 1 more Tbl of bourbon when I make these again (and I will make them again).  Scrape the batter into the pan and sprinkle the toasted pecans and chopped bacon on top.  I made the mistake of putting the bacon in the food processor to chop it and got bacon crumbs instead, which is why you can’t see it too well in the pictures. But it’s there.

Bake about 50 minutes until the edges are set but it’s still a bit wobbly in the middle.  A toothpick should still have batter on it.  Transfer the pan to a rack and let cool completely.  Then remove from the pan.

These things are incredible.  I think they are perfect with the 1/2 cup less sugar–the chocolate really comes through, but if you like your brownies sweeter, add it back.  I thought about whipped cream or ice cream as an accessory, but finally just decided to let the chocolate-y, bacon-y, bourbon-y deliciousness speak for itself:

Oh, and an actual “serving”…about one square inch. Seriously, or you’ll just plain OD on everything.  But, at least you’ll die happy!

Enjoy!