Yep, you heard me.
Bacon candy.
Sounds gross right?
Nope. It’s the most awesome appetizer EVER. It’s one of those times when you eat one and then you have to have just one more, and then just one more.
When I serve them, they fly off the plate with in minutes.
Imagine smoky,sweet,salty,chewy,warm…and bacony!!!!
Let’s be honest and just call it what it is… bacon crack. It’s the most amazing bacon appetizer ever!
I found this recipe through a friend about 5 or 6 years ago.
And they are gluten free!
It’s easy, but a little step intensive, but oh so good… so you have to make a lot.
You’ll need:
3 slabs of smoked/maple bacon each cut in half down the middle
1.5 cups of brown sugar
1 small jicima
about12-15 medjool dates
tooth picks
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Get one of these ugly guys; a Jicima and cut into matchstick size pieces.Don’t use the peel. You can also use Water Chestnuts if you can’t find Jicima.
These little,brown wrinkly guys are Medjool dates.
There’s a pit inside that you throw out. The rest is edible and it’s sticky and sweet.
chop it into a pulp.
Take your bacon that you’ve cut in half and toss in brown sugar.
Lay on aluminum foil and put in your hot oven.
This next part is really important. You have to keep a close eye on them. If you let them cook too long; you can’t roll them, only cook them half way.
Also, you are cooking hot grease and sugar be super careful: One, not to forget and start your house on fire, and two, they can cause bad,bad burns. One of the first times I made it I got some on my hand. Let me tell you, there is nothing like melted sugar to make hot grease stick to your hand.
Carefully remove them with tongs from the foil when they have cooled and put on a ceramic plate to let them cool the rest of the way.
Once they are totally cool, roll the bacon pieces with a piece of Jicima and a small dab of dates (about the size of a small marble.) and roll the bacon and put a tooth pick in it to hold it together.
Sprinkle a little more brown sugar on top and put them back in the oven until they are a nice deep brown, watching so they don’t burn. At this stage they go from brown to burnt really fast.
Remove carefully from the pan and let cool all of the way before serving.
Makes about 72 ending on how many pieces are in your slab of bacon.
Enjoy your bacon crack, er, I mean candy! 😉
Jen
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Mandy Mo. says
April 25, 2012 at 2:33 pmThis looks ah-mazing. I pinned it immediately!
Michele @ The Nest at Finch Rest says
April 25, 2012 at 3:12 pmLOL funny post, Jennifer!
You have NO idea how crazy insane my DH is about bacon. I could post about something new for 6 months daily and still have lots more to say about it.
He makes something similar to this recipe ALL the time and just loves it.
(I don’t eat it and he eats it all. Occassionally he shares but not too often!)
Haha. I must send this to him. He will laugh out loud at the “crack” comment.
You are not alone.
Suzanne says
April 25, 2012 at 5:54 pmOh, bacon candy is so awesome! And rumaki is even better because it involves dates. There’s a restaurant in Chicago that serves bacon topping on an ice cream sundae. That’s where I might draw the line. HA.
Hope all is well with you and that your birthday celebration was awesome.
Anne Lorys - Fiona and Twig says
April 25, 2012 at 6:08 pmMmmmmm, bacon. 🙂
We have a local candy store that sells chocolate covered bacon. It’s not half bad!!!
Kathleen Grace says
April 25, 2012 at 9:49 pmGood Lord! Is there anything more perfect sounding than bacon candy? Be still my heart….er, pun not intended ;>)
The Respectable Redneck says
April 26, 2012 at 8:56 pmMmmmmm Bacon . . . .
ltbpt says
April 26, 2012 at 11:20 pmFlashback moment here! My 70’s era Mom whipped these up before more than a few Bunco nights but did, indeed, use water chestnuts. They didn’t distract my brother and I from raking the fam room shag rug-yes, it was literally a RUG rake. But we would sneak a handful of the Brach’s Bridge mix from the nut cups labeled “Do Not Eat!”
I recently started eating Paleo. This recipe would work if I skipped the sugar. Plus I remember my Mom wrapping the raw bacon around the filling before baking. No burn method but maybe not as effective?
Just confirmed a group of friends for the Barn sale. See you there!
Bonnie says
April 26, 2012 at 11:29 pmOh this sounds like a recipe worth trying. The recipe I make is “meat candy” and it’s along the same lines – coating bacon in brown sugar – but then you wrap said bacon around a lil’ smokie & bake them until the bacon is cooked, about 30 min. Same results – can’t keep ’em on the platter.
Kim says
December 10, 2013 at 10:15 pmCan bacon candy be made ahead of time – at least one day before ?
Jennifer says
December 11, 2013 at 8:31 amYes, I’ve even made it weeks before and frozen it before the final cooking part.
Ashleigh says
December 22, 2013 at 4:09 pmWhat temp is the oven in both bacon cooking steps?
Jennifer says
December 22, 2013 at 6:31 pmI normally cook mine at 400 degrees