Spicy Maple-Candied Bacon

Bacon is good stuff by itself. Add a little heat and some sugar and wowzers, you've got yourself bacon nirvana! This candied bacon is sure to impress and totally simple to make. It transforms the delicious bacon strips into this sweet and salty candy with a nice slight chew. The slight heat leaves your taste buds craving more. Really, it is just ridiculously good. It could be served plain or incorporated into a dish. The possibilities are endless!


Ingredients

1 lb sliced bacon
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper


Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a jelly roll baking pan with foil. Spray with nonstick spray.

2. Combine maple syrup, brown sugar, and cayenne pepper in a small bowl.

3. Dip the bacon strips into the mixture, letting the excess drip off before placing them on the baking pan.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Increase temperature to 400 degrees and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until the bacon is browned and crisp.

5. Let cool on a rack for a few minutes to let them dry and stiffen up.

What does it mean to candy something? You see it all the time on cooking shows and such. It is really quite simple. It just means that you are coating something in some sort of sugar. Usually you'd be melting the sugar first which should be done low and slow as to not burn. The above recipe dissolves the sugar into the maple syrup and melts during the baking process.