I’ve seen plenty of quirky recipes before for sweets and baked goods containing bacon – chocolates, cupcakes, donuts etc. At first glance, the idea makes me a little squeamish – bacon does not belong in a dessert, right? But… sweet and salty can play very nicely together sometimes… and bacon surely makes any dish taste better no?…
The Daring Bakers recipe for this month was Maple Mousse in an edible container of your choice. I thought this would be the perfect chance to trial some sweet bacon baking of my own and see what I thought. I made bacon maple snap baskets, filled with creamy maple mousse and garnished with a little chocolate dipped bacon.
The verdict? Bacon maple snaps are delicious! Maple Mousse also not bad. Bacon and chocolate? No. I draw the line there. This was fun to try as a novelty dessert but definitely not an everyday recipe. I still prefer my bacon and maple syrup best for breakfast with french toast and banana.
My maple snap baskets are made using a “Brandy Snap” recipe. Brandy snaps are a lacey thin cookie that is baked and shaped into tubes while still warm and bendy. Once cool, brandied cream is piped into each crispy toffee snap. My version substituted maple syrup for golden syrup and included a sprinkling of finely diced bacon bits over the batter before baking. The bacon matched perfectly with the sweet toffee crunch of the cookie. It was a slow process to make these because you can only bake 3 or 4 at a time but it was surprisingly easy to do and I will definitely make these again (without bacon) in future.
Maple Snap Baskets with bacon
- 50g butter
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup golden syrup
- 1/3 cup plain flour
Preheat oven the to 180°C and line a tray with baking paper. Melt the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup in a pot over a medium heat for stirring until the butter melts and sugar dissolves. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly. Add the flour and stir to combine.
Drop four teaspoonfuls of mixture on to the tray, spaced well apart, they will spread a lot!
Bake for 5 minutes or until they are thin, bubbling and deep golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 1 minute. Working quickly, lift each one and drape over an upturned glass, ramekin, or cupcake mold to form a basket. Leave to set for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack. Repeat with remaining mixture.
Maple Mousse
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1/2 tablespoon unflavoured gelatine
- 3/4 cup whipping cream
Bring maple syrup to a boil then remove from heat.
In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and pour a little bit of the maple syrup in while whisking (this is to temper your egg yolks so they don’t curdle). Add warmed egg yolks to hot maple syrup until well mixed.
Measure 1/8 cup of whipping cream in a bowl and sprinkle it with the gelatine. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Place the bowl in a microwave for 45 seconds (microwave for 10 seconds at a time and check it in between) or place the bowl in a pan of barely simmering water, stir to ensure the gelatine has completely dissolved.
Whisk the gelatine/whipping cream mixture into the maple syrup mixture and set aside. Whisk occasionally for approximately an hour or until the mixture has the consistency of an unbeaten raw egg white. Whip the remaining cream. Stir 1/4 of the whipped cream into the maple syrup mixture. Fold in the remaining cream and refrigerate for at least an hour. Remove from the fridge and divide equally among your edible containers.
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The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!
