Bacon & Chocolate

Yes, these two things go together.  No, they really do.  Vosges (a specialty chocolate company) makes a chocolate bar with bacon in it that is pretty darn good.  The reason this is relevant is that my mom and I were trying to come up with an appropriate dessert for Father’s Day and decided that we had to figure out a way to incorporate bacon.  She had found a recipe for bacon brownies.  Can’t go wrong with that, right?  Well, the recipe was pretty straightforward but used margarine which I am just not down with.  I’m an unsalted butter gal, through and through.  So, we wondered what would happen if we just took our regular brownie recipe and added a bunch of chopped, cooked bacon to it.  The answer is – eh.  It really didn’t add anything flavor wise and really didn’t add anything to the texture either – kind of chewy nubs.  Doesn’t that sound delicious!  So, I can’t recommend that experiment.  That said, the basic brownie recipe we use is pretty rad, so here you go:

Collin’s Best Brownies

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 large eggs
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 stick unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups walnuts, chopped coarse

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour a 9 inch square baking pan.
2. In a metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, melt chocolates and butter, stirring.  Remove bowl from heat.  Cool chocolate mixture.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth and whisk in chocolate mixture.  Add flour and salt and stir until combined well.  Stir in nuts and spread batter in pan.
4. Smooth top and bake on middle rack in oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until a tester comes out with crumbs adhering.  Cool on rack and cut into squares.

Our quest for a bacon related dessert marches on.  Any suggestions?

Meridith