Our Bella Cucina » Christmas

Salted Bacon Caramels

sarah — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 01:20:34 +0000

No, you’re not hallucinating. I really did just say bacon and caramel in the same recipe.

Right from the start, I want to thank Nancy Leson from the Seattle Times for pointing me in the direction of this recipe at the Suddenly SAHM blog. Though I may be cursing her when I next step on the scale, my tastebuds are singing her praises in the meantime!

INGREDIENTS
8-10 thin slices of plain bacon (no extra flavours or pepper or thick cuts for this recipe)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. light Karo syrup
4 T. butter
1/4 c. heavy cream
1-2 tsp vanilla
1-2 tsp course sea salt

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 410 degrees and clamp a candy thermometer to the side of a non-reactive saucepan (stainless steel is fine), making sure the tip never touches the bottom of the pan.

Cook the bacon hotel style on a rack over a baking sheet in the oven, turning once until crispy – approximately 20 minutes. When it’s done, drain on paper toweling and crumble into bits. You need to have it ready at a specific time in the candy process, so make it completely first and set it aside.

Place the sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, Karo syrup, butter, and heavy cream in the saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat.

Keep stirring it almost constantly until the candy thermometer reaches 245 degrees. This will take a long time, close to half an hour, and the mixture will darken in colour as well as thicken considerably.

When it has reached the right temperature, remove it from the heat and stir it for a minute until it stops bubbling.

Stir in 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla (I used 2 teaspoons of the Watkins double-strength vanilla because I’m a big fan of vanilla) and the crumbled bacon.

Pour it into a buttered 8×8 glass dish. I didn’t have one so I used my 7×11 dish which worked fine, just made for not quite as thick pieces. After five minutes, sprinkle the surface liberally with coarse sea salt. I had kosher salt on hand and it worked just fine.

When it has cooled completely (takes a few hours), cut it into your desired size squares and wrap individually in waxed paper to make a delicious gift. It should keep unrefrigerated for about a week.

Or you can be impatient like us and start cutting into it when it’s still a bit warm and eat it from the dish.

Hey, I never claimed to be elegant!

♥

Peppermint Bark Popcorn

sarah — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 06:40:28 +0000

It’s time for some Christmas sweetness so get your taste buds ready because you’re in for a real treat!

I saw this recipe on my friend Tiburon’s blog the other day and it looked so yummy that I had to give it a try. I tweaked it a little and it’s just as yummy as I anticipated!

INGREDIENTS
8-10 cups of popped popcorn, which is approximately 1 bag of microwave popcorn.
1/2 lb vanilla bark (the original recipe called for almond bark but I’m not a fan of almond flavour so I switched to vanilla which works really nicely. Feel free to substitute in whatever flavour bark you prefer.)
6 candy canes, crushed
1 tsp peppermint extract
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
Place popped popcorn in a very large mixing bowl.
Unwrap candy canes and place them in a sealed Ziploc bag.
Using something heavy like a rolling pin, whack the candy canes until all your aggression is out or the candy canes are finely crushed – whichever comes first!
Pour crushed candy canes into the bowl with the popcorn.
Place the vanilla bark in a microwave safe dish and heat for 1 minute, adding extra time in 10 second intervals until melted completely.
Add the peppermint extract to the melted bark and mix thoroughly. It will get a bit thick and bumpy, but that is ok so just keep mixing till it’s smooth and evenly mixed.
Pour the bark and peppermint mix over the popcorn and candy canes.
Mix thoroughly until the candy cane bits are evenly distributed. I find using my hands to be easiest because it is quite a sticky process.
Pour the popcorn mixture out onto a piece of waxed paper, parchment, or foil covered cookie sheet. Spread evenly and set it aside.
Place the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals until melted and smooth.
Using a fork, drizzle the chocolate over the top of the popcorn.

You can leave the mixture sitting out to harden but I’m impatient and I put it in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes.
When the chocolate is hardened, use your hands to break it all up into chunks and store the chunks in an airtight container. Or you can put it in cute little bags tied with a festive ribbon.

Personally, I thought it was too yummy to leave the house and my boys and I inhaled it over the next 24 hours.

But that’s a whole other parenting discussion.

♥

Oreo Truffles

sarah — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:12:26 +0000

This recipe is a Christmas staple around our house. I took them to my knitting group this year and they were a hit there as well. In fact, I challenge you to find someone who likes chocolate and doesn’t like these! A fun alternative is to use a flavoured version of Oreos like mint….yum!

INGREDIENTS
1 pkg. (1 lb. 2 oz.) Oreo cookies, finely crushed in a food processor (I use Newman-O’s and they work great too!)
1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
Remove about 1/4 cup of the crushed cookies and set it aside.
Add the cream cheese to the food processor and process until well blended.
Using a tablespoon for size, shape into balls – I usually get about 2.5-3 dozen.

Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Time to melt the chocolate. Some people like to do this in the microwave but I’m always afraid of burning it so I like to put it in a stainless steel bowl then sit the bowl in a saucepan with a small amount of boiling water.

This has the added benefit that you can turn the heat down to low and keep it hot while dipping so it doesn’t thicken too much.

Dip balls in melted chocolate (I find 2 toothpicks useful for doing this) and place them on a parchment paper-covered baking sheet.

Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs.

Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.
Store any leftover truffles in tightly covered container in refrigerator.

♥