Browned Butter Candied Bacon Rice Krispy Treats

Last Christmas, as a gift for some friends I created my own Bacon-of-The-Month club. The whole thing started when I decided to see what I could add bacon to that would be delicious and easy to pack up and ship to friends on the East coast. The existing Bacon of the Month clubs that I found online were pricy and all you got was a pound of artisan bacon each month without any inspiration on what to do with it.... not my idea of a worth while investment... 

So, for February, month #2 in the rotation I decided on Rice Krispy bars. But, what could I do to make them different? I decided on browned butter and candied bacon... yum!

I started by making the candied bacon. I put the bacon on a broiler pan so that it doesn't have to cook in its own fat (ish!)

Sprinkle 8 oz of bacon evenly with a nice layer of brown sugar. Pop it in the oven at 400F for 15 to 20 minutes turning it once and sprinkle the other side with more brown sugar.

Bake until the sugar dissolves and starts to caramelize and turn a deep golden brown.

Meanwhile, gather the rest of your ingredients.

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 bags (10 oz each) marshmallows

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

6 cups rice krispy cereal

In 5 quart dutch oven melt butter on medium heat, stirring frequently until it browns and begins to smell nutty. Remove from the heat.

Stir in the marshmallows until they are completely melted.

Chop the candied bacon, stir it into the marshmallows. Add in the salt and rice krispy cereal, folding gently until everything is coated with a nice thick layer of marshmallow.

Press into a lightly sprayed 13x9 baking dish. Let it stand for about an hour to cool completely. Cut into small squares. Enjoy!!

Browned Butter Candied Bacon Rice Krispy Treats

8 oz bacon
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 (10 oz bags) marshmallows
1/4 teaspoon coarse Kosher salt
6 cups Rice Krispies Cereal

Heat oven to 400F. Line a broiler pan or 10x15 pan with parchment paper or foil. Place bacon on pan in single layer. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake 7 to 10 minutes until the sugar is dissolved, turn bacon over, sprinkle with remaining brown sugar. Bake an additional 7 to 10 minutes or until bacon is crisp and sugar is dissolved. Set aside to cool, chop.

In 5 quart dutch oven melt butter on medium heat, stirring frequently until it browns and begins to smell nutty. Remove from the heat. Add in marshmallow, stir until melted. Add in bacon, salt and rice crispy cereal, stir until well coated. 

Spoon into 13x9-inch glass baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Wet your hands slightly with water and press the mixture evenly into the pan. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Cut into small (1-inch) bite sized bars. 

Homemade S'mores - Part 3 Graham Crackers

I found this recipe for graham cracker on SmittenKitchen and was extremely excited to try my hand as making my own crackers. To be honest, I had a lot of trouble with this recipe.
I refrigerated the dough overnight like the recipe said to do yet the dough was still extremely soft and impossible to work with. I ended up freezing the dough for about 30 minutes and only working with a quarter of the dough at a time. Yet, I still ended up with different results each time I took the cookie sheet out of the oven. Over puffed, misshappen and just plain fugly. Next time I would increase the amount of flour for sure but... I'm making s'mores so looks don't matter right now.












Roll out the dough onto a generously floured cutting board or counter to about 1/8 inch thick. I cut mine into 1 inch squares because I wanted smaller little graham cracker bites. Place dough squares on parchment lined cookie sheet and poke holes in dough with flat end of a wooden skewer to make them pretty. In a small bowl mix 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.

Sprinkle crackers with cinnamon and sugar mixture. Heat oven to 350F. Freeze for 15 minutes or until dough is firm. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet. Remove to cooling rack and cool compeltely.

Puffy, ugly and nothing like the photos over at SmittenKitchen but ya know what? They still taste delicious!

Once your graham crackers have cooled completely, and your marshmallows are cut and ready to go then you get to do the fun part... toasting! It's 7 degrees F outside today, cold and windy. I'm not starting a fire outside even though I am a Minnesotan I just don't have the desire to freeze my butt off. So, I roasted my marshmallows inside on my gas stove top... classy, I know.  

I just used a wooden skewer and some patience and ended up with these roasted beauties. Now to put it all together I made a velvety chocolate ganache.

In a small saucepan over medium low heat, heat 1 cup heavy cream just until it begins to bubble, being careful not to burn the cream. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a small metal bowl. Let stand 5 minutes or until the chocolate is softned. Whisk cream and chocolate together until smooth. Refrigerate 15 to 20 minutes stirring every 5 minutes until thickened slightly.

Spoon ganache over graham cracker and top with a roasted marshmallow. See... the ugly duckling graham cracker isn't so ugly anymore is it?


A fun, festive way to bring in the new year.... Happy New Year!!








Ganache

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy whipping cream

1. Place chocolate in small metal  bowl, set aside.

2. In 1 quart saucepan, heat cream over medium low heat until cream just begins to simmer. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate. Let stand 5 minutes or until chocolate is softened. Whisk mixture until smooth.

3. Refrigerate 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or until thickened slightly.

Homemade S'mores - Part 2 Vanilla Marshmallows

The most essential piece to the perfect S'more is the fluffy sweetness that melts in your mouth with a crispy crunch of the toasted, flame kissed edges... (drum roll please)  the toasted marshmallow.

To make the fluffy pillows of sweetness, start with 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water and 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Sprinkle 2 envelopes of gelatin over the water.

While that blooms, in a 2 quart heavy saucepan mix 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water, 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons corn syrup and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Over medium heat, cook sugar mixture until dissolved, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium low and cook until sugar mixture reaches 234 to 240F about 15 minutes.

Turn mixer on low to blend water and gelatin mixture.

Remove saucepan from heat and slowly pour hot sugar mixture into bowl while beating on low speed.

Cover mixer with mixing guard or a kitchen towel to prevent splatters. Increase speed to High and beat the sugar into submission for 8 to 10 minutes or until mixture is light and fluffy and doubles in size.

Meanwhile, lightly grease 11 x 7 in baking dish or pan with butter and dust with powdered sugar. If you want teeny tiny cute marshmallow cubes, go for a 13 x 9 baking dish.

This is just about right, doesn't it look gorgeous?  You want it to be fluffy and full, sort of pillow top-ish.

 

This is a hard job for your mixer, look at how its sweating. Ok seriously, that's just the steam but it sure does look like its getting hot and sweaty. Don't try this at home with a hand mixer... I can't guarantee you or your mixer will survive it.

Perfect! Wet your fingers slightly with cold water and the marshmallow fluff is super easy to work with.

 

Dip a rubber spatula into cold water and spoon the marshmallow fluff our into prepared baking dish, spread top out evenly. The cold water is your friend here. It will make this much easier to manage otherwise you might find yourself stuck to the counter top in a blob of marshmallow fluff.

This is perfect to make while your graham cracker dough is in the fridge because this will need to sit overnight as well. So, just let it chill out uncovered on the counter top until you're ready for super S'mores.

Generously sprinkle a cutting board with powdered sugar. Turn out marshmallow slab onto cutting board and dust with powdered sugar on all sides. Again, wet your knife with cold water to help prevent sticking. Cut crosswise into strips, then cut each strip into small bite sized pieces. Dip each side of the bite sized marshmallow in a small pile of powdered sugar to prevent them from sticking to eachother. You can keep them covered on the counter top for a while but if you want to keep them for more than 2 weeks you can easily freeze them for a few months.













But that wouldn't be much fun now would it? I have bigger and better plans for these tasty morsels....


Basic Vanilla Marshmallows (1/2 recipe)

Butter for greasing
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water

1.    Generously grease bottom and sides of 11x7-inch (2-quart) glass baking dish with butter; dust with 1 tablespoon of the powdered sugar. In bowl of stand mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water and vanilla to soften; set aside

2.    In 2-quart saucepan, heat granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt and 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to medium low, cook without stirring about 20 minutes to 240°F on candy thermometer or until small amount of mixture dropped into cup of very cold water forms a ball that holds its shape but is pliable; remove from heat.

3.    Slowly pour syrup into softened gelatin while beating on low speed. Increase speed to high; beat 8 to 10 minutes or until mixture is white and has almost tripled in volume. Pour into baking dish, patting lightly with wet hands. Let stand uncovered at least 8 hours or overnight.

4.    Dust cutting board with about 1 tablespoon powdered sugar. Place remaining powdered sugar in small bowl. To remove marshmallow mixture, loosen sides from dish and gently lift in one piece onto cutting board. Using sharp knife greased with butter or wet with cold water, cut into 1-inch squares (11 rows by 7 rows). Dust bottom and sides of each marshmallow by dipping into bowl of powdered sugar. Store in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 weeks.