Thursday, 11 August 2011

• Bacon Caramel Brownies

  This is a guest post from Kirbie's Cravings.
  
  

  So those amazing delicious fudgy salted caramel brownies (also known as Baked Explorations’ Sweet and Salty Brownies) didn’t last long. With the kids away, I might have eaten most of them.

  
  
  
  And even as I was eating that last batch, I immediately knew what I wanted to make next: a bacon version. The idea comes courtesy of my fellow SD blogger, Three Dog Kitchen. Her version is even better than the ones I had time to make because she studded her brownies with cocoa bacon. I definitely want to try that next time, but I simply didn’t have enough time with these.
  
  
  Instead, I chopped up some bacon and mixed it into the salted caramel sauce from the Sweet and Salty brownies.  I saved a little of the salted caramel sauce so I had enough to just barely coat some remaining chopped bacon that I sprinkled on top after the brownies were done.
  
  
  
  I loved the addition of bacon bits in these brownies. Which begs the question, is there anything bacon doesn’t go with?
  
  
  The brownie recipe is the Sweet and Salty brownies from Baked Explorations. The bacon idea comes from Three Dog Kitchen.

  Bacon Caramel brownies

  Prep time: 35 mins

  Cook time: 30 mins

  Total time: 1 hour 5 mins

  Ingredients

  • Salted caramel filling
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon Fleur de Sel
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 4 strips of cooked bacon, chopped finely
  • For the Brownies
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 11 ounces quality dark chocolate (60 to 72%), coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 5 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  Instructions

  1. For the caramel filling, combine the sugar and corn syrup with 1/4 cup of water in a medium saucepan, stirring carefully so as not to splash the sides of the pan. Cook over high heat until an instant-read thermometer reads 350F or until the mixture is dark amber in color, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat, and slowly add the cream, and then the Fleur de Sel. Whisk in the sour cream and half of the chopped bacon and set aside to cool. (Watch carefully over the stove as soon as the mixture starts turning golden brown because it will burn easily if you let it cook too high and too long. Also be sure to add the cream as soon as you remove from heat. I waited a few extra minutes and the caramel completely solidified and I had to start over.)
  2. For the brownie, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  3. Butter the sides and bottom of a glass or light colored metal 9 x 13 inch pan. Line the bottom with a sheet of parchment paper, and butter the parchment.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa powder.
  5. Place the chocolate and butter in the bowl of the double boiler set over a pan of simmering water, and stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and combined. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water of the double boiler, and add both sugars. Whisk until completely combined and remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be at room temperature at this point.
  6. Add three eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined. Add the remaining two eggs and whisk until just combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter at this stage, or your brownies will be cakey.
  7. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate. Using a spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until there is a just a trace amount of the flour mixture visible.
  8. To assemble the brownie, pour half of the brownie mixture into the pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Drizzle about 3/4 cup of the caramel sauce over the brownie layer in a zigzag pattern, taking care to make sure the caramel does not come in contact with the edges of the pan or it will burn. Make sure you have about 1-2 tsp left of caramel sauce for later. Use your offset spatula to spread the caramel evenly across the brownie layer. In heaping spoonfuls, scoop the rest of the brownie batter over the caramel layer. Smooth the brownie batter gently to cover the caramel layer.
  9. Bake the brownies for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, and check to make sure the brownies are completely done by sticking a toothpick into the center of the pan. The brownies are done when the toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.
  10. Remove the brownies from the oven. Lightly coat the remaining bacon in about 1-2tsp of the remaining salted caramel. Then sprinkle on top of each brownie.
  11. Cool the brownies completely before cutting and serving.

  What's the weirdest thing you've had with bacon?
  

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