Categories: Desserts
Ingredients
- **CANDIED BACON**
- 1 lb 11-12 strips THICK CUT bacon
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp real maple syrup
- 2 tsp Tabasco Original Pepper Sauce (or more)
- **BRITTLE**
- 1 cup unsalted pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped
- 1 cup unsalted cashews, toasted and coarsely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/3 cup light corn syrup
- 8 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tsp baking soda
Directions
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Cover a rimmed backing sheet with foil and set a wire rack inside. Separate bacon strips and place them evenly over the rack/baking sheet. Bake at 400˚F for 15-20 minutes. Flip bacon over and brush top with 1/2 of syrup then bake 3-5 minutes, flip bacon over, brush top with remaining syrup and bake 3-5 minutes or until browned. Don’t bake much beyond this because the sugar coating can start to get smoky.
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Remove from oven, use tongs to shift them around slightly on the rack to prevent sticking and let cool on the rack until room temperature then pat dry both sides lightly with paper towels to remove excess oil then chop into desired size. Once cooled, stir bacon and nuts together.
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Before starting the brittle, have the bacon done, nuts toasted and chopped, and pan with parchment paper ready as it sets quickly. Have a candy thermometer ready, spatula, and 2 forks ready.
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In a medium heavy saucepan, combine: 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup corn syrup and 8 Tbsp butter. Bring to a boil, and adjust temperature to keep a medium boil. Cook, stirring occasionally 10-12 minutes, stirring more frequently towards the end (time will vary based on the size of pan, so cook until brittle is a light beige and reaches 290˚F on a candy thermometer.
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Once at 290˚F, turn off heat, remove candy thermometer and very quickly stir in 1 tsp baking soda. It will puff up. Baking soda makes brittle lighter and crunchier.
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Quickly stir in nuts and candied bacon then immediately transfer to parchment lined baking sheet and work fast to spread brittle out with 2 forks then smooth out with a spatula. Cool until firm (I moved out to the fridge) then break into pieces.