Yeah. I Went There.

Let me first say that I considered these an epic failure.

Actually, let me back up a bit. I’ve been putting brown sugar on my bacon way before the current ‘bacon as a sweet’ craze kicked in. It’s really not much of a stretch if you think about it. How many times have you shoveled pancakes drowned in maple syrup and a big bite of bacon into your mouth? See? Not that weird.

Anyway, I work with a bunch of guys, and I just thought they might enjoy something like this. So I dove in and made a batch of, yes, bacon caramels. Everything seemed to be fine until the next morning when I tried to cut into them. And they were hard. As. A. Rock.

Epic fail.

But I wanted to at least be able to pass out a few samples to get some feedback on taste, so I popped the dish into the toaster oven just long enough for the glass to heat up and the caramels to soften a bit.

And then I passed them out.

I received two declarations of love, and a “I don’t care how much it costs, will you make these for me for my next party?”

So maybe they weren’t a complete failure after all. I did, however, change the temperature on the recipe here so that the end result is softer and doesn’t put you in danger of extracting teeth when you try to bite down on it.

I know Valentine’s Day is over, but if you’re looking for something a little offbeat and fun to give your guy, try these. Judging from the moans, I’d say they were a hit.

Go figure.

Bacon Caramel

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup butter
1 cup heavy cream, divided
2 Tbs maple syrup
4 strips of crisply fried, meaty bacon, crumbled and fatty portions removed
1/2 tsp fleur de sel

Reserve 1/2 cup of the heavy cream. Combine all the other ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Stir to combine. Set on medium high heat. Stir occasionally and cook until 234°. Remove from the stove and carefully stir in the remaining 1/2 cup cream. Place back on the heat and continue to cook to 240°. Immediately remove from heat and stir in a portion of the crispy bacon. Pour the caramel into a buttered dish (I used an 8×8 glass dish). Scatter the remaining bacon and fleur de sel on top. Let set for at least 3 hours before cutting.