Bacon Brittle
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup Karo Light Corn Syrup
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1⁄2 tsp. salt
- 3/4 cup chopped pecans
- 1 cup cooked bacon bits (about 12 ounces uncooked bacon)
- Grease or butter a large nonstick baking sheet.
- Precook bacon, cool and chop.
- Premeasure and ready all your ingredients
- In a medium heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup and water over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves and the syrup comes to a boil. The dark bits are from a mix of pecans and brown sugar I had mixed prior for Pig Candy, the wife used all the pecans and this was all I had, the sugar was sifted but bits of pecan still goth through, the pecan bits burnt up and left a slight burnt taste to the finished product.
- Attach a candy thermometer to the pan, increase the heat to high, and cook, without stirring, until the mixture reaches 290 degrees. Note the thermometer is blurry, this is condensation and will clear up once the water boils off.
- Don't worry the temps will rise, but the water must cook off first. I almost pulled it before it reached 290 because it took a little bit of time to reach that temp... just hang in there.
- Water has evaporated away and thermometer has cleared up
- OK were at 290° were ready. Remove from the heat.
- Stir in the butter, vanilla, baking soda, salt pecans and bacon bits. The mixture will foam. When it stops foaming, pour the hot mixture onto the prepared baking sheet as thinly as possible. Use a silicone spatula or a buttered spatula to spread.
- Cool at least 10 minutes before breaking into pieces. Store in a covered container.
- The next pic is the only shot I have after the previous step, after mixing the ingredients it got sticky real quick, I think I had too much bacon and pecans.
This was pretty dang good but it may have been better if I didn't use the sugar/pecan mix I had, no fault of the recipe, clearly my fault.
I took it to my neighbors Bruce and Michele that night, they invited us for dinner, Michele loved it.
I will cut back on the pecans and bacon next time, or double up on everything else.