Baconalia Review: Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies with Great Lakes Porter

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies with Great Lakes Porter

Bacon and chocolate chip cookies with a nice, rich porter. ..sounds like dessert to my face!  I’m currently in the midst of planning a bacon party that (at this point) will focus entirely on baked goods.  For whatever reason, I’m actually trying the recipes ahead of time this round.  Perhaps I am growing up and becoming more responsible or perhaps I just really like to bake and post cookies to friends.  Regardless of the present and the future, these cookies were the first cookies of my bacon cookie past.  These cookies predate my whole “Baconalia” concept and I got the recipe from a friend, rather than from the internet.  Seriously.   The first time I made these cookies I was completely unaware of the internet’s boundless infatuation with bacon.

Crock Pot Bread Pudding – Round Two

NKOTB

A couple of weeks ago, I made a sweet bread pudding in my mid-sized crockpot.  One of my friends (Suzy) was aghast that I didn’t include raisins.  I tried to explain to her that I did not include them because I don’t much like raisins in my baked goods* and I do like chocolate in my baked goods and, well, since I was the one making the baked good, I GOT MY WAY.

Some people just have very little sense.  Those same people also don’t always want to hear it.

Crock Pot Bread Pudding, Recipe and Ramble

These are leftovers, because I forgot to snap a picture during the original eating

The following is part recipe and part confession.  The recipe part is super easy and yields delicious bread pudding.  The confession aspect is more complicated…see, it turns out I am a total nana.  Technically, I’m only nana-like, but if I started a promiscuous line or lived back in, say, Tudor England, I’m technically old enough to be an actual nana.  Like, the sort of nana with grandchildren – the real sort.  In actuality, I have two houseplants (one dead) and neither child nor grandchild.  Scattered throughout this process were moments akin to what a grandmother might do, for which I (cringingly) awarded myself “nana points.”

I’m not exactly sure what compelled me to make bread pudding, but the need was strong.  I’m not even a huge fan of bread pudding and I lack any emotional attachment to it.  Growing up, we rarely had it as my mother classified it as soggy, old bread.  That is a true statement, except you then cook – or crock – the soggy, old bread.  Conveniently, I had a little over one-third of a baguette left over from earlier in the week.  Completely stale, bread pudding or bread crumbs were probably the only practical purposes for it.  If you are keeping track, that’s two nana points: one for bread pudding and one for salvaging old bread.

Hot Chocolate

Yum.  I a convert of making my own hot chocolate.  My friend SB recently blogged about how “it’s basically as easy/quick, yet much tastier” to make one’s own hot chocolate.  I’ll agree with her on the second point, but not the first.  However, while it is significantly more involved and time consuming to make cocoa from scratch, it’s still super easy and super fast…and super worth it.

As per my usual, I didn’t actually measure anything.  Thus, I can’t comment on her exact recipe.  I CAN (and will!) say that it is a great guide.  I really liked the kick from the cinnamon; it was NOT too much.   Try it.  You’ll love us both.  Recipe is here . 

This would probably work well in a crockpot, for a larger group or thirsty/cold friends.  I would probably melt the chocolate in a saucepan, for faster results.  It would require an extra pan, but I think that is worth it to avoid melting chocolate in a crock.

Warning: This is super rich and makes Swiss Miss look/taste/smell like dirty water.

Warning #2: NO RUM FOR KIDS.

How I Bake

I am one of those freaks who enjoys both cooking and baking; I also enjoy both eating and sharing my results.  I made pumpkin whoopie pies last night, for a pumpkin carving party I attended tonight.   I mostly followed the recipe for the cookie/cake part, but could not find marscopone cheese for the filling.  Instead of stressing, I reminded myself that I have my own baking protocol anyway, so things like ingredients and recipes aren’t really relevant – except for the parts where I try to pretend that they are vital.  While I do sometimes completely wing things (more in cooking) and other times actually follow a recipe like it’s some sort of sacred ritual (again, more in cooking), I generally follow these steps:

1.) Make a plan, which involves finding a recipe (or two) at some point.  The birth of the plan could be from seeing a recipe on a website, a product in a store, or inspiration from a specific ingredient/concept.

2.) Take inventory of the ingredients needed for said recipe.  Potentially reevaluate the aforementioned recipe OR make a trip to the store…possibly stores.

3.) Get my business all set out and ready.  I don’t necessarily get all of my ingredients out at once (although sometimes I do) but I do like to know what’s going to happen before it needs to happen.  For example, if I am going to need softened butter at some point, I’ll put it out early.  I wait on nobutter; butter waits on ME.

4.) Begin the recipe, with fastidious attention to detail and directions.  Measure twice, pour once – etc, etc.

5.) Get bored with measuring.  Doubt the recipe.  Is 1t of cinnamon REALLY enough?  And why were ginger and allspice not invited to the party?  I’m not sure about Ina G, but I don’t snub MY spice cabinet. 

6.) Decide I definitely know better than any “recipe” and go all willy-nilly.  While going willy-nilly, refrain from writing any amendments down for future use.  To really prevent any reproduction and keep each creation “one of a kind,” I also often avoid measuring, instead using the highly scientific method of “dump and taste.”   “Dump and taste” is a bit like “guess and check” except with greater and earlier commitment.

7.) Bake it…or something.  Basically, get it to a state where contamination or food poisoning is unlikely.

8.) Eat and enjoy!

The moral of the story is that while I might not know better than recipes (insufficient data) I definitely know WELL ENOUGH.   And those pumpkin whoopie pies?  GONE.  Gone in a good way.

Bacon Yields Free (Admission to Buy Overpriced) Beer

I love hosting Baconalia parties, but the prepwork leaves a bit to be desired – predominately because it pretty much all takes place immediately before the party.  In addition to that being annoying and kinda stressful, it leaves me and my kitchen greasy and gross.   (Aside: I’m not sure which I’m more bothered by people seeing greasy and gross.)  Anyway!  I’ve been playing around a bit with bacon baked goods.   Last week I made some bacon-fat ginger snaps; the recipe and photos will eventually follow.   The positive and negative of this is that I end up with a fair amount of bacon-based baked goods.  When I know how much bacon fat is in each cookie (it’s around 1t) it is less-than-appealing to gorge on a dozen in one sitting.  That dozen cookies contains 1/4c of bacon fat.  At present my blood pressure and cholesterol are fantastic; I’d like to keep that way at least until I hit 35.

Baconalia Review: Praline Bacon with Goose Island Nightstalker Beer

Praline Bacon with Goose Island Nightstalker Beer

 

There’s a shirt out there that proclaims “Bacon is Meat Candy.”  I do not have this shirt, but I do have a recipe for meat candy.  This is it.  Oh my gosh.  This.  Is.  It.  I matched dessert beer with my meat candy and my sweet tooth was sated.    

Praline bacon is wicked easy to make.  It has three ingredients: pecans, brown sugar, and bacon.  While I use a lot of Hormel Black Label bacon, I wanted my bacon to be at least as thick as its candy coating, so opted for sturdier bacon.  I went with the thick cut applewood smoked bacon from my local Trader Joe’s.  The applewood smoked aspect is pretty subtle – especially with the coating – but adds a nuance of, “huh, something about this is extra good.”  Using thicker bacon also made this easier to handle.  Praline bacon CAN be prepared ahead of time and is somewhat shelf stable, although it is best warm.  (Shelf-stable claim based on the fact that mailed some to a friend and he did not get sick after consuming it.)    

Baconalia Review: Bacon-Wrapped Pineapple Chunks with Bruery Hottenroth Sour Ale

bacon-wrapped pineapple chunks with sour ale

Pineapple.  Bacon.  Beer.  This offering involved a trio of independently tasty bits; it was simple, yet strong, in its statement.  My inspiration for this matching was “sweet and sour” ala a (stereo)typical Asian dish, but with a beverage upgrade.

The label bacon-wrapped pineapple is entirely self-descriptive: chunks of pineapple wrapped in strips of bacon.  Personally, I am not a fan of canned pineapple.  I don’t care for its defective taste or texture, especially when fresh pineapple is so superior.  Fortunately, grocery stores in the tundra carry fresh pineapple and I am flat-out amazing at cutting those buggers.  (Using a baller knife helps a lot.)  You probably could use canned pineapple, but you are definitely worth fresh pineapple.

Five Good Things

1.) I got a coupon organizer!  I’ve secretly been wanting one and now I have one.   It’s totally a butterfly print.

2.) I’m going to visit old friends, for new fun, this weekend.

3.) Oktoberfest beers are starting to come out.  These are my favorite seasonals. 

4.) I am organizing a fundraiser for a group I am a part of.  The fundraiser has actual utility and the early feed back is that targeted parties are interested.

5.) My pear trees are crumbling under its own weight.   Anyone have a good pear recipe…or six?

Baconalia Review: Maple-Basted Bacon with Freshly Cracked Black Pepper and Tyranena Beer

Maple-basted bacon with freshly cracked black pepper received the most votes for ‘favorite bacon’ at Baconalia!  My working hypothesis is because it was so dang tasty.  I paired it with Tyranena’s Benji’s Chipotle Smoked Imperial Porter, which only seemed like a good idea.  See, it’s an imperial porter, and I thought the bitter of the coffee would complement the sweet of the syrup.  Chocolate never hurts.  As a bonus, this beer advertised that it had some (chipotle) pepper in it, to give it a bit of a kick; that was the same reasoning behind my cracking black pepper over my bacon!  I felt a certain kinship with the brewers.  While I did not take an official beer vote, I am pretty sure that this would have come in dead last – behind Labatt, even.  See, I bought a four-pack of this, which yielded me sixty-four ounces of gross beer.  Since it’s a tasting, everyone gets a glass and then you sort of pour as you go/desire, also rinsing as you go/desire.  More bottles are opened as we go/desire.  As we went, nobody really desired this one; the total consumption averaged less than one ounce per person, meaning I was left with three bottles of this guck.  I tried it a second time, thinking maybe the situation and pairing was what made it bad.  It wasn’t; I poured it down the drain. 

NOTE TO MY FATHER: Please note that as I did not like the beer, I threw it away.  I only drink things I like. 

All right, so we’ve established that the bacon was amazing and the beer was awful.  Let’s delve a bit deeper into the why.  With regard to amount and frequency that I baste and crack, I follow my heart versus any specific standards.  This means I make it with love; there is nothing that tastes better than love.  I also am a bit of a syrup snob, so totally use the good stuff – pure maple syrup versus maple-flavored product.  The only good thing about maple-inspired sticky product is some of the commercials.  They are very heartwarming and I often feel like I can relate is they frequently take place in the tundra.  Anyway, because of my spot-on instincts, this sticky bacon was just the right combination of sweet and salty, with a hint of a kick from the pepper.  It didn’t hurt that it was shiny and pretty.