The Flavors of Fall: Brown Sugar, Bourbon, Bacon Ice Cream

Fall is here! And you know what that means, time for flavors that warm you up and make you feel all good inside. Which is "exacitily" why I made this ice cream, because what could make you feel better than brown sugar, bourbon and bacon? No seriously, I challenge you to come up with a better fall trio.

You might have noticed that although my flavors are very warm, my dessert is actually quite cold. But don't worry, I have a reason behind everything I do, or at least that's what I claim, and my reasoning behind this cold creamy treat is that it was 100 plus this week in LA! In fact, on Monday we hit a record high of 113! I couldn't let the heat spoil my plans to dive head first into fall. Thus, out of my spite for the weather, this ice cream was born. And to add insult to injury, I even served the ice cream alongside my Mom's famous pecan pie at my birthday party! I believe that's Fall-2, Lingering Unwelcome Heat-0.


Triple "B" Ice Cream
*adapted from David Lebovitz

Ingredients


For the candied bacon:

• 5 strips bacon
• 10 teaspoons light brown sugar

For the ice cream:

• 3 tablespoons salted butter
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 3/4 cups half-n-half
• 5 large egg yolks
• 3 teaspoons bourbon
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Candy Bacon Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400

2. Lay the strips of bacon on a baking sheet lined with tin foil, shiny side down.

3. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of brown sugar over each bacon strip, rubbing it into ever strip.

4. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Halfway through baking, drag the bottom side of each strip through the dark goop on the foil then flip each strip over. Continue to bake until the bacon is a rich mahogany. Remove from the oven and cool the strips on a wire rack.

5. Once crisp and cool, chop the bacon into very small pieces. About the size of two grains of rice. Store in an airtight container. 

Ice Cream Directions

1. Pour half of the half-n-half into a large bowl with a mesh strainer set over the top, set aside. In a separate medium bowl, whisk all 5 egg yolks together, set aside. Prepare an ice bath in your sink or in a very large bowl, leave till later.

2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Stir in the brown sugar and the remaining half-n-half. Heat until scolding to the touch but not boiling.

3. SLOWLY pour the warmed brown sugar mixture into the bowl with the egg yolk, whisking FAST and CONSTANTLY as you pour. Then pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan.

4. Cook the mixture over low to moderate heat stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan with the spatula as you stir. Cook until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of your spatula and when you run your finger across it, it does not run together. There is a fine line between cooking the eggs and turning them to custard,  better to air on the less thick side than cooked eggs.

5. Strain the custard into the bowl of half-n-half you set aside. Mix in the bourbon, vanilla and cinnamon. If the cinnamon clumps, you might need to use a whisk for a second to incorporate it well. Then set that bowl in the ice bath and stir with your spatula until the mixture reaches room temp.

6. Cover the bowl with plastic-wrap, leaving a slight opening. Refrigerate the mixture overnight or 8+ hours. 

7. Churn in your ice cream maker according to the manufactures instructions; stir in the bacon bits at the end, freeze and enjoy!

Brown Suga' Bacon! With a Kick!

What's better than some suga' in the morning? How about suga' coating everyone's favorite breakfast meat, bacon. Yes, that is better. Well how bout some suga' coating bacon with a kick to wake up all your tastes buds. Thats bestest! And thats exactly what this recipe for Brown Suga' Bacon will provide in about 2 easy prep minutes and 15 minute in the oven.


Brown Suga' Bacon
*adapted from The Neely's on FoodNetwork


Ingredients 

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cayenne 
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 6 slices of thick-cut bacon

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a low cooling rack on top of the baking sheet. This allows the bacon fat to fall to the bottom of the pan which will make the bacon crispier since its not sitting soggy in its own fat.

2. Mix all the ingredients together in a small shallow dish. Coat both sides of the bacon in the mixture and place the strips on top of the cooling rack. Pop the whole thing in the oven for 15 minutes or until brown and crispy.

3. Be prepared for some groovy good bacon :)

Dessert, Animal Style

I hope everyone had a lovely Valentines Day. Mine was pretty low key in fact we didn't do much of anything until the evening when we went out for dessert. That's my favorite part of the holiday anyways, the excuse to indulge in chocolates and goodies of every sort. The rest of the holiday's traditions, being loving to one another and showing your affection, should really be practiced 365 days of the year.

Josh had not told me where we were going that evening for dessert, so I was pretty much bugging him all day, kinda like a child would pester their parents about what they are getting for Christmas. I couldn't help it! The thought of not knowing what I had to look forward to was driving me insane. Luckily, my anticipation was relieved when we finally pulled up to this spot in West Hollywood called Animal.

The place was booked solid of course, being Valentine's Day and all, so we respectfully took our seats outside to wait for bar seating which took about an hour. After spending the last half an hour making up jokes (The one I made up was  best: What do you get when you put a calculus problem and an apple into a cannon and shoot it into clouds? Apple pi in the sky!) we finally took our well earned seats.

Bacon' Some Peanut Butter Cookies

Ok, I might be going a little overboard with the whole bacon thing, but can you blame me? Bacon is so perfect in so many ways, it seems only natural for me to want to include it in another perfect food: peanut butter cookies.

This is another one of Joy's recipes with minor alterations. The recipe calls for natural peanut butter (who likes thats stuff anyways?) but I used my good old friend Skippy and omitted some of the sugar in the original recipe. The result,  a delightful combination of salty sweet goodness and plenty of perplexed looks from the people I made them for, followed by pleased smiles of course :)

Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies
adapted from Joy the Baker 


Ingredients:
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup sugar minus 2 tbsp (1/2 cup brown sugar minus 1 tbsp and 1/2 cup granulated sugar minus 1 tbsp)
*in order to compensate for the "unnatural" peanut butter's added sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
about 6 slices of bacon, cooked, cooled and dices


Directions:
1. In a skillet over medium high heat, fry up bacon until cooked through and let cool on paper towels until cool enough to dice.  Dice up and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet with butter and set aside.
3. In a mixer combine peanut butter and sugars until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add egg and baking soda and mix for another 2 minutes.  Fold in cooked bacon.
4. Roll into large walnut sized balls and create a cris-cross pattern with a fork. Bake for 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool on a baking sheet for five minutes.

Pirate Cat Radio

No that is not a clever title I made up for my new post (although I am quite good at them if I do say so myself), it is actually the name the place my friend Cheryl and I visited in San Francisco. I will explain more later why the name is so befitting of the institution and why us visiting it together is nothing out of the norm.

Cheryl is one of my best friends in the world, and probably the most absurd friend I have as well, which I appreciate because it allows me to be my absurd self around her. To give you an idea of what she is like, I will share this picture with you.

Here she is holding what seems to be a large grasshopper of some sort with a look that says, "Continue wise grasshopper, I hear all you say."

Anyways, Cheryl and I usually do stuff like pulling one another behind a bike on rollerblades or trying to attempt a 3 person shoulder sit or even watching movies in the graveyard. Most things also involve our friend Maddy, who due to distance was not able to make it.

You get the point. So when Cheryl invited me to a place called Pirate Cat Radio , it totally clicked once we arrived.

The Joy of Bacon

You're not trippin. I did have an earlier post called "Oh the Joy of Baking" but I believe the word "bacon" in my title communicates a huge difference in the subject matter. However, this Maple Black Pepper Bacon recipe is another tried and true adapted masterpiece from the lovely Joy the Baker blog. Frankly, I will try any recipe with bacon as of late. After marrying my bacon fanatic husband, my bacon ban quickly turned into bacon love. Which is actually kinda funny because that reflects the history of my husband and I's relationship, but that is a whole other long story. Back to the bacon! This recipe yields perfect strips of sweet, peppery, crispy and salty bacon. Not to mention it's super easy! So say yes to the bacon beast (my husband's affectionate name for a pig), and give this recipe a try. It's sure to bring you joy.

Ingredients:
Thick cut bacon
Maple Syrup (fakes not allowed)
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Place bacon strips on sheet, close but not overlapping.
3. Drizzle with maple syrup, about 2 or 3 Tablespoons per 10 bacon strips. Sprinkle with as much black pepper as you like.
4. Bake for 10 minutes then remove pan from the oven and carefully flip bacon strips over. Bake for another 6-8 minutes or until the bacon is crispy enough for you.

A Cupcake Recipe Even the Guys Will Go Crazy For

Everyone knows that girls can not keep their dirty paws off things like chocolate, cookies, and cupcakes. I don't know.... I think it is genetic. Something to do with how sweet we are and needing to constantly maintain the high level of sweetness in our blood, or possible our obsession with words that begin with the letter C. But isn't it frustrating when you, as a girl, are ready to down about 75 cupcakes within the blink of an eye and the guy next to you is like "Meh, I don't want dessert." Well I have found the perfect recipe that will make both girls and guys go gaga. It is a Chocolate-Oatmeal Cupcake with a Maple-Bacon Buttercream Frosting. I have made them myself and can attest to the fact that guys especially can not resist the fact that the frosting has real bacon fat and bacon bits in it. But beware girls, they are quite scrumptious to our palettes as well, limit yourself if you can! Muah-ha-ha-ha-ha! (All stereotypes do not reflect the opinion of this blogger, so don't hate)