We love bacon at our house! We like it with eggs, we like it with pancakes, we like it on our BLT sandwiches, we like it on our brownies, we like it on our….. Wait! Hold the phone! Rewind! What did I just type? We like bacon with our brownies? Up until today I would have never thought I would like bacon brownies. But let me start from the beginning.
I grew up a small white girl on a farm in the midwest… Wait. Maybe not that far back. Let’s start again. Just a couple of days ago I was on Twitter, minding my own business, trying to think of something clever to tweet, when a tweet from none other than Ms @bettycrocker popped up. Betty was telling me she had a great recipe for bacon brownies. I checked the date and it wasn’t April 1. Was Betty playing a cruel joke on the Twitter-verse? Was she really suggesting I load up my brownies with bacon?
I clicked on the recipe and, sure enough, there it was: the recipe for Bacon Brownies. I didn’t really give it another thought until yesterday when I was at the grocery story buying the groceries for our Father’s Day brunch and I saw a package of Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookie Mix. Feeling adventurous, I bought the mix and a pound of bacon!
The recipe was quick to put together. A package of cookie mix, oil, egg, chopped peanuts, chocolate chips and chopped crisp cooked bacon! My advice is to get a good quality bacon so the bacon flavor really comes through the peanuts and sugar in the mix. I often cook my bacon in the oven on parchment paper at 350 degrees. The bacon cooks perfectly and there is no mess to clean up.
I also used real maple syrup rather than the maple “flavored” syrup called for in the recipe. Betty also says to use a 8 or 9 inch square pan. I used a 9 inch pan because that’s what I had. When it came time to add the chocolate chips for frosting, I did exactly as Betty said to, and I put the chips on top of the hot brownies and popped them back in the oven for one minute. The chocolate chips spread easily with an offset spatula and made a nice rich frosting. I added the remaining crumbled bacon and let the whole concoction cool! Ninety minutes later we were ready to taste.
The bars were surprisingly good given the odd combination. Salty, smokey, peanuty, chocolate goodness! They were perfect with a good cup of coffee. I think I’ll make them again next Tuesday morning and take them with me when I go play bingo with the girls. Since these brownies have bacon in them, I think it would be perfectly proper to serve them at 10am, dontacha think?;)
Pattypie! How did you know I love bacon and peanut butter? When I was very little, there was some brand of peanut butter that had bits of bacon in it. I loved it and still remember when I dropped a glass jar on our tiled kitchen floor and it shattered. My mom couldn’t find it at the store anymore and I guess that’s when they quit making it. In the mornings, I often have peanut butter toast w/my tea and when I have fixed bacon, I crumble it on top. mmmmmmmm (also channeling Homer Simpson). I gave up on most home-made cookies after the boys were grown and I bought a bag of the Betty Crocker mix. They are yummy and are as good as my home made choc chip or oatmeal choc chip (my fav). Much easier though and they always quickly disappear. I can’t wait to try this.
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mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm (wiping away the drool)
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Thanks Patty Pie
Lily I reviewed it just for you 🙂
One other thing I am going to add to my review. Like most peanut butter cookies these taste better the second day! 🙂
I am a sucker for the sweet/savory/salty taste combination. Thanks to Patty (and Betty too) for the inspired idea!
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Something tells me that Patty is gong to be very popular with the ladies at Bingo!
I love peanuts and chocolate so I can that is the same type of mix when you are talking about the whole salty thing..
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Do you have a recipe for Chocolate Covered Bacon? I would like to try that next.
Next on slice of the pie – Chocolate Bacon Fondue! 😉
pattypie,
Yummy, I just wonder how we take the calories out of these. I’m sure the Bingo ladies will love them. I love a salty taste!!
Betty says they are 300 calories a square based on a 8 inch pan cut into 16 squares!
16 squares in a 8 inch pan!! I would never get that many out of a 8 inch pan with guys around. LOL. 300 calories, oh my, and rich to boot on top of it. I am going to get a mix and try these!!
Bacon makes everything better. I am so going to try this recipe.
Oh, this just might, might, be the recipe that brings world peace.
Oh, NOOOOO what are you doing to me Pie? I really shouldn’t but I will make those for sure! My husbands two favorite food groups Chocolate & meat 😉 My little girls are going through a the only protien we will eat is Peanut Butter phase & I’m actually in need of adding more fat to the middle ones diet.LOL
It’so funny you picked this recipe, a friend of mine was just telling me about her latest discovery Bacon Jam ;0 I think bacon must be coming back!
Momsby……I had to laugh at your comment. It reminded me of when my, at the time 5 yr old would only eat WHITE things presumably because they were “clean”. LOL LOL I laugh now, but then I was frustrated beyond words!
The fact that her school is Peanut Free & I have a rule about no peanutbutter for breakfast on school days..makes it an even greater challange.
White food only..lol would be an even bigger challange thank goodness they do outgrow it eventually!
Yes these “phases” are challenging at the time, but fun later on. I wrote down as many as I could like when my 4 yr old son would only wear button up shirts, or he had to sleep with an apple every night and would eat a circle around it and nothing else. I picked up an apple off his floor every morning for months!
16 squares in a 8 inch pan!! I would never get that many out of a 8 inch pan with guys around. ~Snickers
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There are no guys in my household and I would never get that many either. When it looks that good, you just have to throw caution to the wind and enjoy!
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Thanks again Patty Pie.
OK Patty Pie…I need to go back to cooking bacon 101. Parchment paper in the oven…how hot…how long! (We inhale bacon…& I’ve never found a PERFECT way to cook chrispy w/o hovering over a frying pan!)
HB – I put it on a jelly roll pan ( you know a cookie sheet with edges ) I put the parchment paper so it goes up over the sides of the pan (see the above picture) so none of the bacon fat will leak on to the pan. I bake in a 350 degree oven, I think it takes about 15 minutes. Perfect every time. And if you fold up the parchment paper carefully – you can just throw the whole mess in the garbage and no fat will even get on the pan so you don’t have to wash it.
I would suggest you cut your first piece small. They are very rich! 😉
WOO HOO!!!! New way of cooking bacon in my house! Thanks PattyPie! I am excited about making bacon….whoda thunk it?
I think our slice of pie has a birthday today!! Maybe she should bake a cake and share it with us. ???
Thanks Kmom2 for getting this grandma off the hook for asking the IW chef how to cook bacon! (I’ve never had a roll of parchment paper…but almost old enough for papyrus!) I’ve tried every contraption for bacon in the microwave etc., but never in the oven!
Happy Birthday Patty Pie, & thanks for the info.
Maybe I missed it but can someone tell me the benefit of cooking on parchment paper and also where do you find it in the grocery store.
You can find it in the same place as saran &aluminum foil..Pam.
The benefit is no scrubbing the pots & pans. I use it for cookies & they slide right off & seem to be crispier. I always forget to use it for casseroles, but I know people who do & their stuff looks much better than mine.
Pam….parchment paper can be found with the foil, plastic wrap, etc. or maybe the baking isle. I had to buy it a long time ago for a cooking project for my daughter. I can’t tell you of any benefits though, sorry.
HB I have also looked and tried every new bacon contraption! I wouldn’t have ever guessed to cook it in the oven. I love bacon, but I also love the drippings for cooking, not to mention pouring some on my dog’s food for his skin and fur. I can’t remember the last time I was this excited to cook bacon! That last statement should give some insight on how exciting my life is!!! LOL LOL Livin on the edge here!
Awe, Kmom we have so much in common! Lol
LOL…momsby. So happy to know another mother “livin on the edge!”
Yep, I’m using the computer as a delay tactic..Day 3 of rain+husband away=My house looks like a bomb went off & I really should do something. Maybe, I’ll get really wild make muffins & NOT mop the sticky Kitchen floor. LOL
DO IT MOMSBY!!!!!!
LOL, Momsby. I agree with Kmom2. 🙂
Ok girls, I just got back from Target and I am officially living on the edge. I bought parchment paper. Now I have to cook my bacon on it in the oven. …..Did I buy bacon? Drats.
Welcome to the edge, Pam!
Pam,
Yep, you need bacon!! 🙂 I made the bars gals and let me tell you, they are so rich. Even the guys said here that just a couple of bites with a good cup of coffee was enough for them. They want me to make the S’mores bars!! HA!!
I have used parchment paper for years while making Christmas candy. It’s more expensive but the results are always better. Wax paper sticks to the counters if you put warm cookies on it. Parchment means no cleanup. YAY!!!
Ok Kmom2,
I saw you talking over in Entertainment about cooking bacon in the oven, LMAO. How long do we cook it in the oven for? I guess until it is done. I have always cooked in on the top in a pan. Maybe a long time ago tried those microwave dishes but never liked it that way. I like my bacon crisp.
Hee Hee….bet you wish you were me this weekend, huh? LOL LOL PattyPie says in the oven @ 350 for 15 minutes. SO that’s where I’ll be Saturday mornin…..sittin on the floor in front of my oven watchin my bacon cook, like a kid waiting their birthday cake to come out!
Yes Pam it is an absolute requirement of cooking bacon in the oven to have parchment paper and BACON! 😉
I should have mentioned the oven baked bacon earlier…it’s a life changer…LOL
Snickers…they are rich aren’t they? 🙂
Life changer…..you betcha! I mean I had been invited to London to have dinner on Saturday night with Prince William and Katherine, but when I found out about this cooking bacon in the oven thing…..well I cancelled my flight, and sent my regrets to Wills and Kate! I’m staying home to cook bacon in my oven!!!!!!! LOL LOL LOL
I took your advice yesterday threw caution to the wind & ignored the sticky floors & kids mess. Just my luck had a pop in visit from my mother…who came to take me out for lunch. She offered to help me tidy up the kitchen before we went, only slightly mortified, agreed it would bother me to leave it as is..I drew the line at mopping the floors & I didn’t even say Kmom & the IW girls told me;0
I did mop them the minute I got home though, just in case someone else decided to visit..who knew living on the edge could be so hard? lol
I’ve had a request for Red Velvet Birthday Cake & I’ve never made one. Do any of you ladies have a favorite recipe, you could direct me to online? Anybody tried Paula Deens Red Velvet?
I have never made Red Velvet cake…I have only bought it. The ones that I have bought have always been kind of dry.
momsby:
Try the Betty Crocker site. Just type in red velvet cake.
Thanks I will!
Well of course it’s hard…that’s why they call it the edge baby!!! LOL I hope you had fun at lunch with your Mom!
Sorry never made a red velvet cake. But I have never had a good store bought one either.
I must confess, I’m not sure I understand how gaga people go over red velvet cake. I mean, it’s good…it’s cake, right? But it’s not my favorite and I don’t understand the raptures people go into over it. I think I don’t quite get how it is kinda chocolate and kinda not. Make a choice, people!
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I just did bacon in the oven for the first time a couple of months ago, and it turned out very nice – I love bacon (understatement) but I feel like when I fry it I need to really babysit it and even then there are parts that are overcooked and parts that are barely done.
We’ve never even tried it…I think my daughter has watched too many of those cake shows on TLC. lol
I’m going to try the BC one it’s easy peasy, just a German Chocolate cake mix & food colouring.
Ok….so the bacon in the oven……very exciting! I couldn’t find real “meaty” bacon…..seemed very slim pickins at the store so I ended up leaving it in the oven for 25 minutes…..but it was GREAT! But the best part was I still got the grease for seasoning, and NO MESS, no standing over the stove! WOO HOO!!!!!
Kmom2.
I just wanted to tell you that for some reason, our manager keep placing your comments in our spam blocker. As soon as I see it, I take it out. I am not sure why it is doing that but just wanted you to know that it is nothing we are doing. I will try and get it figured out. 🙂