Chocolate and bacon? Surely two ingredients that should never be seen together in one place. Or could this be a match made in heaven? At Great British Chefs we were really excited to discover that chocolate bacon brownies existed. Nigella Lawson had created an "unholy union" of bacon and chocolate in this recipe. For Bacon Connoisseurs Week, we put Dolce Dini to the test of seeing whether it would actually work. We're pleased to say they were delicious.
Dolce Dini made Nigella's Chocolate Bacon Brownies for Great British Chefs
Nigella created the recipe to share exclusively with lifestyle website Emerald Street, which she recently guest edited.
She admitted that the pairing of chocolate and bacon wasn't her own idea and was introduced to the concept by Vosges Chocolat, whose Mo's Bacon Bar, uses Hickory smoked bacon as a major ingredient. We also found another recipe for Bacon Salted Caramel Brownies adapted from a gluten free recipe for Chocolate Brownies by David Lebovitz.
Mo's Bacon Chocolate Bar - Photo by snowpea&bokchoi
Nigella's recipe uses streaky bacon, which is actually then candied with golden syrup. This mix is then added to more traditional chocolate brownie ingredients: butter, brown sugar, cocoa powder, eggs, bicarbonate of soda and most importantly dark chocolate.
Nigella said the secret to success with the bacon was to make sure it is "cut very thin, without the rind, and snip it up into small shards. You don’t really want chewy pieces of bacon, but rather nuggets of intense saltiness within the rich, gooey chocolate squares.” For the full recipe visit Emerald Street.com.
Candied Bacon by The Geek of Everything
Luckily for us Dini made loads of the chocolate bacon brownies and we also sprinkled pieces of the brownies onto vanilla ice-cream to make another chocolate and bacon dessert.
What do you think of the idea of mixing chocolate and bacon? Which other desserts do you think that bacon might work in? What are your favourite additions to a chocolate brownie mix. We're discussing this over on Great British Chefs Facebook Page.
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