Bacon for dessert?

TACOMA, Wash. • William Mueller is of the mind that everything tastes better with bacon. Even dessert. Nope, you did not read that incorrectly. Yes, he said it: bacon dessert.

Chocolate-dipped bacon, maple-bacon ice cream, peanut-butter-bacon cookies. Mueller has served a bacon wonderland of pork-filled desserts to his customers at Babblin' Babs Bistro in recent weeks. Their verdict? Bacon looooooooove.

When customers sampled Mueller's peanut-butter-bacon cookies, diners were surprised but intrigued.

"They thought it was pure genius to incorporate bacon into a cookie," said Mueller, chef of Babblin' Babs and co-owner with wife, Shannon. He added about the chocolate-covered bacon, "I didn't tell a lot of people it was bacon underneath. They said, ‘This is great! It has a smoky taste and chewy texture, what is it?'"

"Everything with bacon tastes better, and now we have dessert to prove it," said Mueller. "It's great wrapped around anything from scallops, pineapple to jalapeño poppers. Bacon can be on salads, desserts, entrees and anything else you can come up with ... what (other ingredient) can make that claim?" he asked.

Bacon aficionado Crystal Green couldn't agree more: "Pairing bacon with sweets makes total sense to me. Many people already do it as part of their bacon cooking repertoire, adding honey to their bacon to make honey-glazed pepper bacon, or sprinkling their bacon with brown sugar," said Green.

"How many of us kids at heart and real life kids dip their bacon in their maple syrup? Tons! There's something about bacon that compels some of us to dredge, sprinkle or glaze it with something sweet. Intentionally taking bacon to the next level of actual bacon-inspired desserts is a natural evolution," she said.

If you're not a fan of bacon, well, our apologies. You can scratch your head while you read this missive. If you are a fan of bacon, yet still cringe or shrug at the idea of bacon dessert, well, bear with us for a brief segue into flavor mapping. See if this makes sense to your palate.

Consider waffles. What goes with waffles? Maple syrup and bacon, of course. What's next to the bacon and the waffles on your morning plate? Try eggs. Add a glass of milk on the side. Sure, it sounds like breakfast, right? But what else can you create from the same ingredients and flavor pairings? Bacon-maple ice cream in a waffle cone (insert Homer Simpson drooling noises here). If you can map out the flavors, then perhaps it makes sweet sense?

Here, in the words of flavor diva Karen Page, co-author of the newly published "The Flavor Bible," with Andrew Dornenburg: "It may seem odd for a meat to pair well with sweet flavors at first, but meats such as duck, venison and pork have long paired well with fruit," said Page.

Page's flavor map:

• Bacon plus pancakes equals bacon cupcakes, bacon cookies, bacon cornbread.

• Bacon plus waffles equals bacon soufflés.

• Bacon plus French toast equals bacon custards, bacon bread pudding.
Bacon and sweet is a flavor match Page has seen chefs across the country embrace.

"It's funny how chefs will get on a bandwagon, and using bacon as an accent to desserts is definitely one," said Page.

Evidence of the national palate embrace of sweet, sweet bacon? Try bacon baklava at Louisville's Brown hotel. Or bacon and egg ice cream with pain perdu (caramelized French toast) at the Michelin three-star-rated Fat Duck restaurant near London. And in New York City, Page said, Gramercy Tavern serves a milk chocolate tart with crème fraîche and bacon. And the Dovetail Restaurant in New York? Brioche bread pudding with bananas and bacon brittle.

And in the Northwest, Portland's Voodoo Doughnuts has received national attention for its bacon-maple bar doughnuts.

Bacon blasphemy? Sure. Some diners don a crazed look or mumble complete confusion when presented with the possibility of bacon sweets on a dessert menu. It does sound weird, we'll be the first to accept that, but there is a growing pile of evidence about flavor pairings that identify why smoky, sweet bacon goodness may seem so right.

Page explained, "Do we love bacon and maple syrup because we grew up with it for so many years at breakfast that it's become a comfort pairing? Or is there something deeper at play?"

Indeed, the pairing of bacon and sweet could very well make sense because of their botanical relationships, said Page. "When you think about maple syrup, it is the reduced sap of maple trees. Bacon is often smoked with wood from trees. So nature surely has something to do with it, too." Bacon and maple are practically siblings, after all.

Familiar flavors are much more acceptable to the culinary curious. "The key for coming up with bacon desserts, since there is not a large and/or long tradition of them, is to reference flavor pairings that are familiar to the diner," said Page.
"That involves deconstructing the familiar and then reconstructing flavors into the unfamiliar that manages to seem familiar."

That means obvious comfort foods such as peanut-butter-bacon cookies or maple-bacon ice cream to Proctor's Chef Mueller. When creating his bacon treats, Mueller let his mind wander to the comfortable and familiar things already on the menu of his bistro, like crème brûlée and bread pudding. The addition of bacon just seemed a natural for his house desserts. "I just started with the thing that seemed to make sense," Mueller said. "You can let your palate roam from there."

Mueller has advice for the bacon curious wanting to try bacon desserts at home.

Start with bacon that is thick, very meaty, but lean. Pick a bacon that is smoky.

Use bacon that is hickory smoked for pairing with rich desserts that seem a natural pairing with salty notes. For sweeter desserts, think maple flavoring.

Green has not experimented much with making bacon desserts at home, but she likes the idea of pairing really rich, decadent flavors and textures with bacon.

"We all know that grey sea salt and caramels work well together," said Green. "If the pairing of salty-sweet works for salt and caramel, why wouldn't it work for bacon and caramel?

"The answer is, of course it would. I would love to have a caramel, whether chocolate-covered or not, with crispy sprinkles of bacon on it. I think caramel in particular would play off well with the salty smokiness of the bacon."

Want to start easy? Consider the Southern treat Pig Candy, or sometimes called Bacon Candy. The recipe is very basic. Slice strips of bacon, roll in dark brown sugar (and use black pepper or cayenne to give it kick). Place the strips of bacon on a cookie rack placed on top of a deep pan to catch the drippings, and bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or so, turning once to ensure even cooking. That's it.

You have yourself a very basic bacon dessert.

Want to get deep with bacon sweet treats? Get your bacon on with the accompanying recipes from chef Mueller.

• • •

Love Me Tender Peanut Butter, Bacon and Banana Cookies
Yield: About 3 dozen

1/2 cup organic butter
1/2 cup organic peanut butter
1 whole organic egg
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon each baking powder and baking soda
1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups organic flour
1/4 cup crushed organic banana chips
1/4 cup Praline of Bacon (see recipe)

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper.
In large bowl, beat butter, peanut butter and egg with mixer. Add sugars, baking powder and soda, and vanilla. Mix until all is incorporated and continue to scrape sides.

Gradually, at low speed, add flour until incorporated. Finish cookies with banana chips and bacon (add as much or as little as you like). Place in bowl, covered, and chill so dough will be easier to work with.

Make 1-inch balls with dough, or larger if desired. Place on baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Flatten with palm of your hand.

Bake in 7-9 minutes, or until bottoms are browned.

Source: William Mueller, Babblin' Babs Bistro

• • •

Praline of Bacon
Yield: About 1/2 cup

1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/8 teaspoon red pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 pound bacon, cooked and diced

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray sheet pan with cooking spray.

In mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, Worcestershire, butter, red pepper and cinnamon. Whisk well. Pour mixture onto sheet pan and coat evenly with bacon.

Bake, turning every 5 minutes, 20-25 minutes total.

Source: William Mueller, Babblin' Babs Bistro

• • •

Maple-Bacon Bread Pudding
Yield: 8 servings

2 cups milk
2 cups half-and-half
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup orange marmalade
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 whole eggs
8 cups cubed bread
6-8 ounces cooked bacon
1 cup melted butter
1/2 cup organic maple syrup
3/4 cup walnuts

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray 9-inch-square baking pan.

Combine milk, half-and-half, brown sugar, marmalade, egg yolks, cinnamon and whole eggs. Whisk until blended; set aside.

Place cubed bread in large bowl. Add cooked bacon, butter and maple syrup.

Toss until evenly distributed, then transfer to baking pan. Pour egg mixture over top, not quite filling pan, then stir.

Crumble walnuts over top. Place a plate over cubes, and set aside 20 minutes.

Wrap baking pan with foil tightly. Poke 2 holes on opposite sides. Place on preheated sheet pan. Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes, then uncover and continue baking another 15 minutes. Remove and cool on wire rack.

Source: William Mueller, Babblin' Babs Bistro

• • •

Maple Bourbon with Bacon Praline Ice Cream
Yield: Makes about 2 1/2 pints

6 large organic egg yolks
1 cup organic maple syrup
2 teaspoons organic flour
1 cup organic half-and-half
1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups organic cream
1 cup Praline of Bacon (see recipe)

Procedure:

In bowl, beat egg yolks with maple syrup and flour. Set aside.

Bring half-and-half to simmer in heavy saucepan. Gradually beat hot half-and-half into eggs. Pour entire amount back into clean saucepan and place over low heat.

Stir with wooden spoon or rubber spatula until custard thickens slightly. Remove from heat and pour through strainer into bowl. Allow custard to cool, then stir in cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until cold.

Stir chilled custard, then freeze in your ice cream maker, following manufacturer's directions.

Add Praline of Bacon when ice cream is semifrozen. Allow machine to mix in bacon and continue until finished.

Source: William Mueller, Babblin' Babs Bistro

• • •

Chocolate-Covered Rum Bacon
Yield: 4 servings

1/2 pound natural thick-cut, lean bacon
2 tablespoons organic maple syrup
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Gosling's Bermuda Black Rum (or your favorite rum)
4 ounces Cacao Barry Cocoa, melted (or any good-quality dark chocolate)
1 tablespoon toasted coconut (optional)
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts (optional)

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet pan with parchment paper.
Place strips of bacon on pan. Spread 1/4-1/2 teaspoon maple syrup on each slice, rubbing it into meat. Lightly dust bacon with cinnamon.

Bake, watching to make sure bacon does not burn. As soon as it starts taking on a crispy character, remove from oven and sprinkle generously with rum. Turn pieces over and repeat with maple and cinnamon. Return to oven and continue cooking until crispy and firm. Remove from oven and and sprinkle with more rum.

Remove from pan and completely cool on plate; give it a light spray of canola oil (leaving it to cool in pan may cause it to stick).

In small pan over low heat, slowly melt chocolate, stirring very sparingly or chocolate may seize up. Spread chocolate only on 1 side of bacon, covering completely.

Have fun and add coconut, walnuts, peanuts, potato chips or even banana chips.

Make it your own.

Source: William Mueller, Babblin' Babs Bistro